BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT WRIGHT -- Some Kentucky Democratic Party leaders were apparently counting on Republican Jim Bunning to run for U.S. senator from his Fort Wright campaign office.
Just about two weeks ago, Lexington lawyer - lobbyist Terry McBrayer, a member of the Democratic National Committee, was telling some of the state's political reporters that "Bunning will stay" home in running against Democrat Scotty Baesler in the Senate race. "We're tracking him and he's not out campaigning," Mr. McBrayer said Aug. 10 at the Commonwealth Convention Center, just prior to a speech President Clinton delivered that day on managed health care reform. The president attended a fund-raiser for Mr. Baesler that raised about $300,000.
"He'll go to some canned Republican events, but he won't get out and meet the people," Mr. McBrayer predicted. "That's not Jim Bunning's style."
Either Mr. Bunning changed his style or Mr. McBrayer was wrong.
Hitting trail hard
Because Mr. Bunning, a Southgate Republican and U.S. House member, has hit the campaign trail hard this month, particularly in west Kentucky. That is a region both campaigns expect to be one of the key battlegrounds in the election for the U.S. Senate seat Owensboro Democrat Wendell Ford is retiring from after 24 years.
"We're spending time in places where voters are open to a conservative message," said Kyle Simmons, Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's chief of staff who is on loan to the Bunning campaign.
"To say Jim Bunning has not been campaigning is demonstrably not the case. It's not surprising that Terry McBrayer has not seen Jim Bunning on the campaign trail," Mr. Simmons said.
"There's not a lot of votes to be won in the state Capital cafeteria," a place where Mr. McBrayer lobbies state lawmakers.
Here is a look at Mr. Bunning's campaign schedule since Aug. 8, provided by his campaign office:
Aug. 8: Campaigning at a festival and riding in a parade in Corbin.
Aug. 10: Speaking at the Owensboro Kiwanis Club and at Red's Picnic in Sorgho, Daviess County. Mr. Baesler, also a member of the U.S. House, attended the picnic.
Aug. 11: Talking defense and military issues with the Hopkinsville Chamber of Commerce and speaking to the Hopkinsville Rotary.
Aug. 12: Speaking to the Bowling Green Rotary Club.
Aug. 13: Taping a television interview in Lexington; meeting with supporters at Jefferson County GOP headquarters in Louisville; attending a Jeffersontown Republican Club rally in Louisville. Aug. 14: Meeting with supporters in Harrodsburg and then riding in the city's Pioneer Days Parade.
Aug. 16: Campaigning at Equipment Dealer's Day at the Hardin County Fair.
Aug. 18: Speaking to the Leitchfield Rotary Club.
Aug. 19: Touring a plant in Paducah.
Aug. 20: Speaking to the Glasgow Rotary and attending a Logan County GOP meeting.
Aug. 21: Speaking to the Kentucky Industrial Development Council in Barren County. Mr. Baesler also spoke to the group.
Mr. Bunning also spent Saturday campaigning at the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville and Fayette County Republican Picnic in Lexington. The Baesler campaign says Mr. Bunning has to campaign in the west because that's the part of the state where he is the least known, a point Mr. Simmons does not dispute.
"(Mr.) Bunning, naturally, has less name I.D. out in the west," said Bob Wiseman, Mr. Baesler's campaign manager. "We've spent a year traveling the west, and we're still out there heavy. But (Mr.) Bunning has to organize and introduce himself, and we've already done those things in the primary."
Better known elsewhere
Mr. Simmons admits that Mr. Bunning is better known in other parts of the state than in west Kentucky, a region generally defined as west of Interstate 65, which runs south from Louisville to the Tennessee line.
"We view this as an opportunity for (Mr. Bunning) to introduce himself in west Kentucky," Mr. Simmons said. "People are starting to pay attention to the Senate race, and we want to get him in front of a very important group of voters."
Owensboro resident David Rhinerson, a member of the State Republican Party Executive Committee, said Mr. Bunning has already campaigned hard in Owensboro, a city of about 54,000 two hours west of Louisville. "And he'll back here within the next week or two," Mr. Rhinerson said. "Right now Jim Bunning just seems to be spending more money and getting better organized and more notice than Scotty Baesler."
Working during recess
Mr. Baesler also has been campaigning hard during Congress' August recess, which is scheduled to last until Sept. 8.
He spent last Tuesday campaigning in the eastern Kentucky mountains with Louisville Democrat Charlie Owen, one of two Democrats Mr. Baesler beat in the May primary. The other was Lt. Gov. Steve Henry. Then Thursday he made campaign visits to the west Kentucky towns of Campbellsville, Elizabethtown and Russellville, as well as Lexington.
And this week Mr. Baesler plans to hit eight west Kentucky towns and counties, including Henderson, Madisonville, Paducah, Murray and Ballard and Livingston and Logan counties.
"Western Kentucky is going to be a battleground," Mr. Wiseman said.
Both candidates expect to do well in their respective congressional districts, Mr. Bunning in Northern Kentucky's Fourth District and Mr. Baesler in Central Kentucky's Sixth District.
Better in regions
Mr. Baesler will probably do better in the east, with Mr. Bunning having the advantage in southern Kentucky. That leaves Louisville and the west as areas seen up for grabs.
Mr. Simmons argues that Mr. Bunning has the upper had because the west has been "trending" Republican.
Both of the region's members of Congress -- Ron Lewis of Elizabethtown and Ed Whitfield of Hopkinsville -- are Republicans. And Mr. McConnell, a Republican from Louisville, carried both those districts in winning his 1996 re-election bid over west Kentucky Steve Beshear. "The voters of west Kentucky want a conservative message," Mr. Simmons said, "and that's what we have."
