By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NEWPORT - At least Northern Kentucky voters won't be standing in long lines at the polls during Tuesday's statewide primary.

"How many voters am I expecting?" joked Campbell County Clerk Jack Snodgrass. "Seven or eight."

Hotly contested gubernatorial primaries in both major political parties and crowded races for some of the state's constitutional offices - the so-called "down ticket" contests - have failed to generate much interest among the local electorate, even though the governor's office will have a new occupant for the first time in eight years.

Gov. Paul Patton is barred by state law from seeking a third term.

CANDIDATES

Candidates for statewide offices: GOVERNOR/LT. GOV Democrats Ben Chandler and Charlie Owen Jody Richards and Tony Miller Otis Hensley and Richard Robbins Republicans Ernie Fletcher and Steve Pence Steve Nunn and Bob Heleringer Rebecca Jackson and Robbie Rudolph Virgil Moore and Don Bell SECRETARY OF STATE Democrats Russ Maple H. "Gippy" Graham J. "Joe B." Lanter Republican Trey Grayson ATTORNEY GENERAL Democrats Gregory Stumbo Ed Hatchett Chris Gorman Republicans Jack Wood Timothy Feeley Philip Kimball AUDITOR Democrats Crit Luallen Jim Glenn Michael Wayne Gayhart Republicans Osi Onyekwuluje Peppy Martin Basha Cannon Roberts Linda Greenwell TREASURER Democrat Jonathan Miller Republican Adam Koenig COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE Democrats Steve Meredith Roy A. Massey Glen D. Holbrook Alice Woods Baesler Barney Hornback Joey Pendleton Jimmy "Gabe" Turner T.E. "Beck" Beckham Republicans L.W. "Buck" Beasley Richie Farmer

Polling places will be open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. But Snodgrass and his two Northern Kentucky counterparts - Kenton County Clerk Bill Aylor and Boone County Clerk Marilyn Rouse - predict that only about 15 percent of local voters will bother to cast a ballot.

Statewide, Secretary of State John Y. Brown III is "optimistically" calling for a 30 percent turnout, according to a statement from his Frankfort office.

"There just hasn't been much of a campaign," Snodgrass said. "The voters don't seem to care much about this governor's race. And with no local candidates on the ballot, people don't really get excited unless it's something in their backyard."

Snodgrass also pointed to the blistering attacks waged in the Democratic primary between Attorney General Ben Chandler and Northern Kentucky native Bruce Lunsford, a Louisville businessman who abruptly dropped out of the campaign Friday after spending an estimated $8 million of his own money on the race.

"I think the negative campaigning has run its course," Snodgrass said. "People are tired of it. Anymore, it seems the mudslinging has the opposite of its intended effect. Instead of getting people out to vote, it keeps them away because they get disgusted with all the negative attacks."

Lunsford's departure may actually give turnout a slight boost, Aylor said.

Lunsford has thrown his support behind another Democrat - Kentucky House Speaker Jody Richards. But some voters who may have been inclined to stay home may now turn out to back Chandler, who according to independent polling has led the Democratic ticket from the start.

"With Lunsford out of the race, I think a lot of people will now believe that Chandler will win," Aylor said. "And people like to vote for a winner."

On Sunday, however, many voters criticized Chandler's and Lunsford's campaign tactics as they shook Richards' hand while he worked the crowd at MainStrasse Village Maifest in Covington.

"We like your values. We need them a lot more," Al Sheets, 50, owner of Enzo's Coffee & Dry Cleaners on Main Street, told Richards, and then said to the Enquirer: "Everything is falling apart. It's like no one wants to do the right thing anymore."

Voters Richards greeted Sunday overwhelmingly said they were turned off by the "negative" tone to both Lunsford's and Chandler's campaigning and praised Richards for taking the "high road."

"I was going to vote for Lunsford," said Michael Waters, 31, of Fort Thomas. "I don't like Chandler. I've seen the commercials. That really swayed me."

Chandler and his running mate, Charlie Owen, held rallies in Somerset and Anderson County, said Mark Riddle, Chandler's campaign manager, noting that more than 250 people turned out in Somerset.

"We're not focused on (Lunsford) anymore. We are just focused on getting as many votes as we can and finishing up the campaign strong."

Lunsford's departure, however, presents a problem for county clerks as well as voters.

Voting machines in all three counties have already been loaded with ballots that list Lunsford and his lieutenant governor running mate, Barbara Edelman. Aylor said he would deliver signs to each polling place to inform voters the pair is no longer in the race.

"But you watch," Aylor said. "Some people will still vote for Lunsford anyway."

Lunsford is the second high-profile candidate to leave a statewide race this year. Last month, a state court ruled that Hunter Bates, the running mate of GOP front-runner Ernie Fletcher, had not lived in the state long enough to run for office.

Bates, a Kentucky native, had spent the past several years in Washington, D.C., as a top aide to Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. Bates could have appealed the ruling, but instead dropped off the ticket.

Fletcher replaced Bates with Louisville lawyer Steve Pence, who left his job as a federal prosecutor to run for lieutenant governor.

The legal drama distracted Fletcher, a Lexington congressman backed by most of Northern Kentucky's leading Republicans, including all three of the region's county judge-executives and most of the Republican state lawmakers.

Fletcher has since regained his footing as the Republican front-runner, said J. Michael Thompson, a Northern Kentucky University political science professor.

"It is still Fletcher's race to lose," Thompson said.

The GOP primary has had a far quieter tone than the Democratic contest, Thompson said.

State lawmaker Steve Nunn and Jefferson County Judge-executive Rebecca Jackson have both run on their political experience. And while Nunn has tried to capitalized on his name - his father, Louie Nunn, was the last Republican governor - both he and Jackson have been unable to match the nearly $2 million raised by Fletcher's supporters.

Thompson also expected a more-spirited debate from Republicans, who are trying to win their first governor's race since Nunn's father won the office in 1967.

"We've heard a lot of rhetoric and impassioned pleas for support, and we've heard talk of jobs and education," he said. "But we haven't heard much about those magic issues Republicans always talk about in campaigns: the life issue, which is opposition to abortion, and opposition to taxes.

"Those are the issues I expected to hear more about, because those are the issues that move conservative Republicans," Thompson said. "And conservative Republicans are the ones who normally turn out in primaries."

Thompson also has a theory on why the electorate appears so disinterested in this election.

"We're winding down from a war and we're still in a tough economy," he said. "These are the things that move people to the polls. Maybe they do in a presidential election, but not in a governor's race."

Reporter Jennifer Edwards contributed to this report.

E-mail Patrick Crowley at pcrowley@enquirer.com