BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FANCY FARM, Ky. -- Kentucky's U.S. Senate race got off to a bitter start Saturday as Republican Jim Bunning and Democrat Scotty Baesler traded shots at the 118th Fancy Farm political picnic.
The two U.S. House member and former athletes -- Mr. Bunning is a baseball Hall of Famer and Mr. Baesler played basketball at the University of Kentucky -- did not hold much back during the day-long western Kentucky picnic considered the unofficial start of the Bluegrass campaign season.
And if Saturday was any indication, the race to succeed U.S. Sen. Wendell Ford will live up to its billing as the most aggressive, hard-fought and possibly nasty race in Kentucky this fall.
"We're in for the haul," Mr. Baesler said as he worked the crowd of 10,000 or so.
$H0"It's going to be a tough race. No doubt about it. But we're ready and we're going to show today that we are going to win this race because we have what the people of Kentucky want."
$H0"It's going to be a tough race. No doubt about it. But we're ready and we're going to show today that we are going to win this race because we have what the people of Kentucky want."
With a group of Democrats on the right and a louder, yet smaller contingent of Republicans on the left, the candidates went after one another as they spoke to the crowd that gathered around the picnic ground's speakers' podium.
Mr. Baesler, known for his low-key approach to politics and public speaking, was unusually animated as he took on Mr. Bunning's record. He wrapped his arms around the podium, bending his knees and leaning forward as he practically screamed into the microphone. And for the first time in several months, Mr. Baesler dredged up a nearly two-year-old incident involving Mr. Bunning, President Clinton and former University of Kentucky basketball coach Rick Pitino.
On the eve of the 1996 election, Mr. Clinton appeared at a rally on the UK campus. He was introduced by Mr. Pitino, who a short time later, received a nasty telegram from Mr. Bunning for appearing with the president.
The incident caused Mr. Bunning some embarrassment in basketball-wild Kentucky, and Democrats have been hoping that Mr. Baesler would use the flap in his campaign.
Saturday he did, reading Mr. Bunning's telegram and yelling to a group of Democrats in the crowd, "What do you think about that?" The Democrats responded by chanting "Go Big Blue," referring to UK's team.
But Mr. Bunning also got some rhetoric out of the color blue. Mr. Baesler is part of a group of moderate southern Democrats in Congress known as the Blue Dogs.
Mr. Bunning chastised Mr. Baesler for several of his votes in Congress, including his vote against the balanced budget amendment. He also said Mr. Baesler has been ineffective in his three terms in Congress.
"What has Scotty "Blue Dog' Baesler done in the last six years in Congress?" Mr. Bunning said. "He hasn't passed one single piece of legislation. Not one bill. What do you think of that?" "Bad Doggie" the Republicans hollered back.
As he has done in recent weeks, Mr. Baesler attacked Mr. Bunning for voting against President Clinton's 1994 crime bill that Congress passed.
"(Mr. Bunning) said we don't need cops on the streets. He said we don't need more money for domestic violence. He said we don't need more money to keep drugs out of the schools," Mr. Baesler said. "What's family values about that? Is that family values?" he screamed to the Democrats in the crowd, who responded with a loud "No."
Several times GOP partisans tried to shout Mr. Baesler down, but he just looked at them and said, "I got all night, folks," waiting for them to quiet so he could resume speaking.
Mr. Bunning also took a swipe at Mr. Baesler for an Aug. 10 fund-raiser in Louisville that Mr. Clinton is to attend.
"Tobacco's public enemy No. 1," is how Mr. Bunning referred to the president. Tobacco is Kentucky's top cash crop.
A few times catcalls were directed at Mr. Bunning, calling him a "Cincinnati rich boy."
Mr. Bunning, who grew up in Northern Kentucky, did not respond to the taunts. But earlier in the day at a Republican Party breakfast in nearby Mayfield, Mr. Bunning talked of his "deep Kentucky roots," a phrase he has used other times on the stump. That indicates Mr. Bunning is probably aware that being from Northern Kentucky is viewed by some Kentuckians as being an outsider.
