FLORENCE -- Boone County residents Gex "Jay" Williams, a Republican state senator, and Democratic County Judge-executive Ken Lucas won their party's primaries Tuesday night and will square off in the 4th District congressional race in November.
The race features two powerful political factions:
The conservative Republicans of Mr. Williams, who have not only whipped a lot of Democrats on their march to power but also the old guard GOP of Northern Kentucky.
The so-called "new Democrats" of Mr. Lucas, who couch themselves as centrists, moderates and even conservatives who loath the liberalism long associated with the Democrats as much as the Republicans.
If comments made Tuesday night by Mr. Lucas are any indication of how the race will be run, the gloves are already off.
"What this race is going to be about is leadership and cooperation vs. an obstructionist," Mr. Lucas said, clearly intending the latter to describe Mr. Williams though not mentioning him by name.
"I've always been a positive guy, a community guy who tried to build coalitions," Mr. Lucas continued.
"I've always tried to keep a low profile and not take a lot of credit for things, but some people just want to get in the way and obstruct things."
Mr. Lucas, of Richwood, beat Russell osteopath Dr. Howard Feinberg in the race despite being outspent by Dr. Feinberg.
Mr. Williams, a Verona resident, said he intends to run a positive campaign, and will not speak ill of his opponent.
"But I'm not afraid to stand against taxes, to be against bureaucracy, to be against big government and a lot of very bad laws," Mr. Williams. "That's not being an obstructionist. That's standing up for what you believe in."
Mr. Williams won the race by defeating Fort Mitchell attorney Rick Robinson and Fort Thomas attorney Jim Kidney.
Mr. Robinson was endorsed by U.S. Rep. Jim Bunning, the Southgate Republican who has held the 4th District seat for six terms. Mr. Bunning is giving up the seat to run for the U.S. Senate.
Mr. Robinson congratulated Mr. Williams first by phone Tuesday evening and then in person at a victory party in Florence for Mr. Bunning, who easily won the party's U.S. Senate primary over State Sen. Barry Metcalf.
"This election is far too important to let some very minor differences over policy and positions get in the way," Mr. Robinson said. "I'll do what I have to to make sure this seat remains in the Republican Party."
4th District Republican Party chairman Damon Thayer of Grant County called for unity within the party.
"It's time for the Republican Party to unite behind Gex Williams," Mr. Thayer said Tuesday. "The voters have selected him as our nominee and it's time to make him the next Congressman.
"The Democrats are going to throw everything at him but the kitchen sink; they'll probably raise more money, but when voters go to the polls in November, they'll send Gex Williams to Washington," Mr. Thayer said.
Mr. Williams, known as a strong political organizer of grass-roots campaigns, said the key to his victory was the hard work put in by his campaign volunteers.
"You could walk in our campaign headquarters at all hours of the day, including after midnight on a whole lot of nights, and find people working," Mr. Williams said on his car phone as he drove to the Bunning victory party.
"You want to know what made the difference in this race? That was it."
Mr. Williams even won Kenton County, Mr. Robinson's home county, and Campbell County, where Mr. Bunning lives.
During the campaign, Mr. Williams talked about his work in the General Assembly to lower taxes in Kentucky and change parts of the much-maligned Kentucky Education Reform Act, or KERA.
But he also played to his conservative base by often touting his opposition to abortion and his strong Christian faith.
Mr. Williams was endorsed by several of the nation's leading conservatives, including Dr. James Dobson, a nationally-syndicated talk radio host and author; former Reagan administration official and pundit William Bennett, Newport native Gary Bauer, a possible presidential contender in 2000; flat-tax advocate Steve Forbes, another presidential hopeful, and former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed, who Mr. Williams paid $2,500 a month as his primary campaign consultant.
Mr. Robinson tried to counter some of the Mr. Williams' endorsements with a campaign visit Saturdayfrom former Senator and GOP presidential Bob Dole, who attended a fund-raiser and rally for Mr. Robinson.
Mr. Lucas said even though Dr. Feinberg dumped a lot of his own money in the race, possibly as much as $400,000, he did not have to spend a lot of money on the campaign.
"The key to victory was we were able to stay on our game plan even though Dr. Feinberg outspent us," Mr. Lucas said from his victory celebration at the Florence Lions' Club.
"Dr. Feinberg was very tenacious. He spent a lot of his own money, but we had a good campaign, a lot of great campaign workers and we didn't have to use all our resources and all our money in this race."
Since the congressional seat is open with Mr. Bunning's departure to run for the Senate, both national political parties are expected to pump thousands of dollars into the race, which is expected by the national media to be one of the most hotly contested and closest watched in the country this fall.
