FORT MITCHELL -- People in the Ohio River town of Carrollton, Ky., are excitedly preparing for President Clinton's visit Thursday,
"Everybody's talking about it," Carroll County Judge-executive Gene McMurry said Monday after a series of meetings with the Secret Service, a White House advance team and members of the president's communications office.
"How many people get to play host to a U.S. president?"
It will be Mr. Clinton's second visit to Carrollton, 60 miles southwest of Cincinnati. He visited there in 1992 after he won the Democratic nomination for president.
Mr. Clinton is expected in Carrollton on Thursday to discuss the federal tobacco settlement with growers, and how to reduce teen smoking with students from Carroll County High School.
Mr. McMurry said plans are for Mr. Clinton to land at the Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky International Airport on Thursday morning, and travel to Carroll County High School.
Mr. Clinton will then meet with tobacco growers at the Kentuckiana Tobacco Warehouse.
Warehouse owner Melvin Lyons said it will be "an honor" to have the president visit his business.
"I'm not really sure I know everything about his tobacco policy," Mr. Lyons said, "so I'll listen to what he has to say. But I sure don't want him to do away with the (federal price support) program. That would be bad for us who work in tobacco and for those who grow it." Under the program, the federal government annually sets a per-pound price for tobacco, and then agrees to buy the crop the tobacco companies do not.
Kentucky congressional candidates are taking sides in the tobacco debate.
Boone County Judge-executive Ken Lucas, a Democrat running for the 4th District congressional seat, said he is scheduled to attend a Boy Scout luncheon in Ashland on Thursday and won't be able to make the president's visit.
But Mr. Lucas said he talked to the president last month when Mr. Clinton was in Cincinnati for a fund-raiser.
"Now he has finally come to listen . . . and the president gave me his word that he would listen to our farmers, and I'm glad to see he's keeping his promise," Mr. Lucas said.
Mr. Lucas' opponentin the primary, Dr. Howard Feinberg of Greenup, said he probably will attend Mr. Clinton's visit, though he differs on the tobacco policy.
During the weekend, Mr. Clinton said a bill implementing the tobacco settlement should be even tougher on the companies than the bill approved by a Senate committee last week.
"I think what the president is trying to do will eliminate the current production system of tobacco in Kentucky, and that will devastate the economies of small towns and entire counties in Kentucky that depend on tobacco," Dr. Feinberg said.
U.S. Rep. Scotty Baesler of Lexington, a candidate in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary, will probably travel to Kentucky with Mr. Clinton on Air Force One, said Bob Wiseman of his Lexington campaign office.
Mr. Baesler, a tobacco grower, refused to appear with Mr. Clinton in Lexington the day before the 1996 election. At the time, Mr. Baesler said he opposed Mr. Clinton's call to regulate tobacco as a drug. "That was a different situation because (Mr. Clinton) was in a campaign mode," Mr. Wiseman said Monday. "Right now, the president is coming to Kentucky to talk about an issue that is important to Scotty and important to Kentucky."
U.S. Rep. Jim Bunning of Southgate, a candidate for the GOP nomination in the U.S. Senate race, said Mr. Clinton's trip is an example of his arrogance.
"Bill Clinton is trying to destroy tobacco," Mr. Bunning said. "He has no business coming here to talk about it."
Fort Mitchell attorney Rick Robinson, a Republican running in the 4th District congressional primary, said Mr. Clinton needs to have a "real eye-to-eye exchange with people whose livelihood is at stake."
" "I feel your pain' isn't going to cut it," he said.
Republican Jim Kidney of Fort Thomas, a 4th District candidate, said Mr. Clinton doesn't care about policy as much as politics. "He's looking to do what suits him best in the polls," Mr. Kidney said.
