By Charles Wolfe
The Associated Press

FRANKFORT - Wendell Butler, one of the more durable politicians of his time, once was running for commissioner of agriculture when someone demanded to know what he knew about farming.

It was a legitimate question.

The agriculture job was a filler for Butler between terms in the office he really loved - superintendent of public instruction - but in which he could not run for re-election under term limits.

The story goes that Butler fielded the question this way: "I know that an 800-pound hog is a mighty big hog."

Twenty-eight years after Butler last held elective office, the question again arises about how much agricultural expertise is possessed by a presumed favorite in the race for agriculture commissioner.

The candidate is Richie Farmer, a Republican best known for having been an overachieving basketball player at the University of Kentucky. Farmer, by his own admission, is not "a traditional running-a-farm person." He is a financial planner in Manchester, his hometown, where he returned after graduation to go into business and raise a family.

How would he run the state Department of Agriculture, should he defeat Democrat Alice Baesler in November? He says he would surround himself with "quality people" who know the business.

"I think that is the key to success in anything that you do, especially running an office in Frankfort," Farmer said.

Farmer will quickly and invariably point out that he graduated from the university's College of Agriculture with a double major - agricultural economics and agribusiness management. Though he acknowledges that he does not farm for a living, he seems sensitive to any suggestion that he is devoid of ideas for agriculture.

Not that it matters. The fact is that the Republicans who recruited Farmer to run, including his friend and neighbor in Manchester, state Sen. Robert Stivers, did so not because he knew anything about agriculture. They did so because he was seen as someone who could win for a party that has not won any of the constitutional state offices since 1967.

Nothing indicates the GOP has had any reason for regret. Farmer got the loudest and longest applause last month from about 500 party faithful who gathered at Graves County High School in Mayfield for a breakfast rally before the annual political hoedown at Fancy Farm.

It was not a common sight. Farmer has made comparatively few appearances, even skipping a Kentucky Educational Television forum during the primary. But he was on KET last week, alongside Democrat Baesler, with an explanation that he has been "overwhelmed with requests" for personal appearances.

"I think it's important for people to realize that I'm not a career politician," Farmer said. "I'm not retired; I don't have that income. I still have to run a business and I've got a family of three little boys and a wife at home, so I have to support them.

"I've tried to juggle all those things with campaigning, so it's difficult for me to be everywhere that people want me to be."

If nothing else, the races this fall further demonstrate that an association with UK basketball has political value.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Ernie Fletcher wrangled an endorsement in April from former player J.P. Blevins, who now heads a "young professionals" campaign for Fletcher and running mate Steve Pence.

Fletcher's Democratic opponent, Ben Chandler, was joined on the road last week by former UK coach Joe B. Hall and a busload of former players being billed as "Champions for Chandler."

Baesler has a UK basketball connection of her own. Her husband, Scotty Baesler, was a team captain for Adolph Rupp.