BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FLORENCE -- Bob Dole will make good on a political debt when he comes to Northern Kentucky Saturday morning to help raise money for Republican Rick Robinson's congressional campaign.
Mr. Dole, the former U.S. Senate Majority Leader who lost the 1996 presidential election to Democrat Bill Clinton, will spend about 90 minutes at a fund-raiser, press conference and campaign rally.
The events will be at the Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky International Airport and the Radisson Airport Hotel, according to Mr. Robinson's campaign.
The campaign is looking for Mr. Dole to provide a political and financial boost for Mr. Robinson, running in a tough three-way GOP primary against Boone County State Sen. Gex "Jay" Williams and Fort Thomas attorney Jim Kidney.
Internal polling done by the candidates shows that as many as 50 percent of the Fourth District's Republican registered voters are still undecided before Tuesday's vote. Mr. Robinson has already been endorsed by the incumbent Fourth District congressman, U.S. Rep. Jim Bunning of Southgate, who is leaving the U.S. House to run for the Senate.
Mr. Robinson chaired Mr. Dole's Fourth District presidential campaign. Though Mr. Dole lost Kentucky to Mr. Clinton in the '96 election, his biggest margin of victory among the state's congressional districts was in the
Fourth District. The district stretches from Ashland to Oldham County and includes all of Northern Kentucky.
Mr. Dole also racked up big numbers in Northern Kentucky, beating Mr. Clinton 15,085 to 8,379 in Boone County, 16,640 to 11,957 in Campbell County and 28,579 to 19,407 in Kenton County.
Mr. Dole is coming to Northern Kentucky because he supports Mr. Robinson and because of Mr. Robinson's work on Mr. Dole's presidential campaign, according to the Robinson campaign.
"It shows we have the momentum. Northern Kentucky loves Bob Dole. The Fourth District loves Bob Dole. He is somebody the voters of the district can identify with and he and Jim Bunning are the biggest Republican endorsements you can get," said Fred Wolf, a member of Mr. Robinson's campaign team.
Mr. Williams has brought a steady stream of conservative political figures into Northern Kentucky for his campaign, including Newport native Gary Bauer -- who was here Wednesday -- Bill Bennett, Steve Forbes, Larry Forgy and Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition executive director who is working as Mr. Williams' general campaign consultant.
The fund-raiser Mr. Dole will attend will cost $250 a person. The campaign was lining up contributors on Thursday.
