By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MAYSVILLE - U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas hustled along Maysville's Second Street Tuesday morning, dodging raindrops and looking for votes as well as voters in this Ohio River town an hour southeast of Covington.

But a steady downpour had cleared the city's usually busy business district. So Mr. Lucas and his umbrella-toting entourage of one - campaign field director Wes Wright - ducked into Dee-Lite's Downtown, a Greek diner known for its cheeseburgers and fries.

"Come here and give me a hug," owner Erato Kambelos said in a heavy Mediterranean accent. "He's a Democrat but he votes what he thinks is right. That's why I like him."

Lucas supporters Mrs. Kambelos and her husband, John, who is from Greece, requested a yard sign that Mr. Wright delivered before he and Mr. Lucas left for the next leg of a four-county campaign swing, a luncheon 30 minutes away in Fleming County.

These are busy days for Mr. Lucas, the 4th Congressional District Democratic incumbent who has been pushed hard by the campaign of fellow Boone Countian Geoff Davis, a GOP business consultant making his first run for office.

Unlike two years ago, when Republican Don Bell had little money and did not aggressively campaign for the seat, Mr. Davis has presented a far more formidable challenge for Mr. Lucas, the only Democrat in Kentucky's Washington delegation.

The Davis camp was charged up over word Tuesday that President Bush is scheduled to make a campaign appearance Friday in Louisville on behalf of the entire GOP ticket, including U.S. Rep. Anne Northup of Louisville. The campaign for Mr. Davis, who has been invited to give a four-minute speech at the rally, is trying to spin the appearance as a political trip designed to stump for Mr. Davis.

But while the president and Vice President Dick Cheney have made previous campaign visits to Louisville and Cincinnati - as well as several other locations around the country - they have not appeared anywhere in the 4th Congressional District, a 24-county area that stretches from West Virginia to near Louisville.

The Lucas campaign says that is because Mr. Lucas has supported President Bush on several major pieces of legislation, including the 2001 tax cut.

Asked to comment Tuesday on the president's visit, Mr. Lucas was quick to point out the logistics involved in the appearance.

"The president is not coming into the (Fourth) district; he's going to Louisville," was all Mr. Lucas would say.

Mr. Lucas' many votes with the administration clearly rankle the Republicans, who in the past have had difficulty gaining political traction against the incumbent because of his conservative voting record.

During an interview Tuesday with Jim Shires of Maysville radio station WFTM - which stands for "World's Finest Tobacco Market" - Mr. Lucas talked about his platform, including working for a prescription drug benefit, making health care more accessible and affordable and increasing worker training.

"Training our work force will help our economy because it's easier for a trained worker to find and keep a job," he said.

Mr. Lucas also told Mr. Shires he is proud of his "independent voting record."

"I try not to be a partisan person ... I try to put people ahead of politics. There are far too many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who vote the straight party line. My favorite saying is `You can send a robot to Washington to vote the straight party line' There's no thought process in that," Mr. Lucas said in a veiled reference to Mr. Davis.

"That's a waffle," Mr. Davis said Tuesday after hearing of Mr. Lucas' comments. "He contradicts himself ... because we disagree on a lot of issues. Trade Promotion Authority. The so-called (Shays-Meehan) campaign finance reform. NAFTA. Permanent normal trade relations with China. There's no consistency with Ken Lucas because he votes on both sides of the fence."

Mr. Lucas began his day at 4:15 a.m., rising early to make a campaign stop at a chamber of commerce breakfast in Flemingsburg, a 90-minute drive down the AA Highway from Northern Kentucky that he and Mr. Wright made in "The Ice Cream Truck," the candidate's nickname for a squat, 22-year-old old mini recreational vehicle he uses on the stump.

By 9 a.m. Mr. Lucas was walking through a massive and sparkling clean Maysville warehouse occupied by Federal Mogul, an auto distributor that employs 320 and does about 30 percent of its business overseas.

As he was introduced to workers by company manager Alan Brubeck Mr. Lucas talked about his support of Trade Promotion Authority, or the so-called Fast Track legislation that allows the president to negotiate foreign trade agreements with little input from Congress. Mr. Lucas broke ranks with most Democrats to support the bill, which was pushed heavily by the Bush administration.

"This company does a lot of business overseas, and it has added more than 200 workers in the last year," Mr. Lucas said. "That's the kind of thing we can do more of with Trade Promotion Authority."

Mr. Davis said foreign trade agreements have cost the 4th District "thousands of jobs" at employers that have relocated plants and operations to other countries.

While touring the plant Mr. Lucas shook hands with 40-year-old Terry Swim, who also raises about 10,000 pounds of tobacco on her family's farm in nearby Lewisburg.

A Democrat, Mrs. Swim said she supports Mr. Lucas because of his votes on tobacco, including his support of money to buy out farmers who want to get out of the business and a price-support system for those who wish to continue growing Kentucky's No. 1 cash crop.

The bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Ernie Fletcher of Lexington and co-sponsored by Mr. Lucas, would also prevent the Food and Drug Administration from regulating tobacco as a drug.

"This is legislation that helps the farmers who want to get out of tobacco and those who want to stay in," Mr. Lucas said.

Mr. Davis has been critical of Mr. Lucas, saying the incumbent has not been the primary sponsor of any farm-related legislation even though he sits on the House Agriculture Committee.

"In order to co-sponsor a bill all you have to do is sign a letter supporting it," Mr. Davis said. "It took Ernie Fletcher to do something to help Kentucky tobacco farmers, and now Ken Lucas is shouting `me, too.' "

As he prepared to leave the warehouse, Mr. Lucas was approached by Federal Mogul employee Eddie Johnson, who asked Mr. Lucas to sign a birthday card for his 10-year-old son. Mr. Lucas quickly obliged.

Mr. Johnson, a Republican, was asked whom he was going to vote for.

"The guy who signs my son's birthday card," he said with a laugh.

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com