A look at the Nov. 7 election strictly by the numbers:

        • Three: The number of counties carried by Republican Don Bell in the 4th Congressional District race he lost to Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas of Boone County. Of the district's 22 counties, Mr. Bell carried his home county of Oldham, neighboring Shelby County and Lewis County.

        • Two: The number of precincts — out of 52 — carried by Mr. Lucas' son, Lance Lucas, in the Boone County commissioner race. The winner was Republican Charlie Kenner, who took nearly 61 percent of the vote. And Mr. Kenner's win came even though Ken Lucas carried Boone County. So much for coattails.

        • One: The number of Boone County precincts carried by Democrat Al Gore. Republican George Bush carried the other 51 precincts in what is the largest GOP-controlled county in the state.

        The lone precinct going with Mr. Gore was Florence No.3, and even there he won by just six votes, 129-123. By contrast, Mr. Bush put up huge numbers in Union No.3 (891-254), Hopeful Road (824-271) and Union No.4 (849-292).

        • One: The number of precincts Democrat Jaimie Henson carried in her hometown of Independence in the 23rd District Senate race in Kenton County. Republican incumbent Sen. Jack Westwood of Erlanger won the other nine precincts in Independence, as well as all of the precincts in his hometown. A politician who can't carry the home base has a tough time winning. Just ask Mr. Gore, who lost his home state of Tennessee to Mr. Bush.

        • 604: The margin by which Butch Callery won the six Latonia precincts in beating Bernie Moorman in the race for mayor of Covington. Mr. Callery is from Latonia and always runs well there. This year, home cooking made the difference — Mr. Callery's overall margin of victory was just 363 votes. Mrs. Henson and Mr. Gore, take notice.

        • 24: The largest vote total Green Party candidate Ralph Nader pulled in any of Northern Kentucky's 224 precincts. And, surprisingly, Mr. Nader's best showing came out of the GOP-hotbed of Fort Mitchell. Go figure.

        • 0.04 percent: The lowest vote percentage a candidate received on Election Day in Northern Kentucky. This dubious distinction goes to Howard Phillips, Constitution Party candidate for president. And it came in Boone County, where Mr. Bush won with nearly 69 percent of the vote. Mr. Phillips received 12 votes of the 31,984 cast.

        • 77.49 percent: The highest vote percentage piled up by a Northern Kentucky candidate running in a contested race. Sen. Dick Roeding, a Lakeside Park Republican, put up this number in Kenton County in beating Democrat John Stephenson of Fort Mitchell.

        By the way, the Senate district also includes all of Boone County, where Mr. Roeding beat Mr. Stephenson with 71.8 percent of the vote.

        • Zero: The number of precincts Fort Mitchell Democrat Jeb Holbrook carried in his hometown in the 63rd District House race against Republican Rep. Jon Draud of Crestview Hills. In fact, Mr. Holbrook didn't carry a single precinct in the race, which Mr. Draud won with 76.83 percent of the vote.

        • Too many: The number of gray hairs I now have because of this election.

       Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Enquirer. He can be reached at 578-5581, or by e-mail at Pcrowley9@home.com.

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