By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Hyperbole always surrounds elections, particularly in the waning days of a long statewide campaign.

But it's nearly impossible to overstate the importance and impact of Tuesday's election for Kentucky governor.

POLL HOURS

Polls in Kentucky are open 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday. Anyone standing in line at 6 p.m. must be allowed to vote under state law. For information, contact the Boone County Clerk (859-334-2130), Campbell County Clerk (859-292-3885) or the Kenton County Clerk (859-491-0702.) In addition to governor, these statewide offices are on the ballot: Lieutenant governor (runs on the same ticket as governor): Charlie Owen, D; Steve Pence, R. Attorney General: Greg Stumbo, D;. Jack Wood, R; Gatewood Galbraith, I. Auditor: Linda Greenwell, R; Crit Luallen, D. Treasurer: Jonathan Miller, D; Adam Koenig, R. Secretary of State: Trey Grayson, R; Russ Maple, D. Commission of Agriculture: Alice Baesler, D; Richie Farmer, R.

For the first time since 1971 Republicans - who for years have been slowly building a formidable base across the commonwealth - have a chance to win the governor's mansion.

A victory by Lexington Congressman Ernie Fletcher puts Kentucky solidly in the ranks of Republican-controlled states while conceivably increasing the downstate clout of Northern Kentucky, a GOP stronghold the party faithful claims has been ignored by Frankfort because of its political leanings.

"The Democrats have been in power for so long in Frankfort there are a lot of voters, Republicans as well as Democrats, who want to see what the Republicans can do with the governor's office," said Kenton County GOP Chairman Greg Shumate, a Northern Kentucky leader for the Fletcher campaign.

For the once-dominant Kentucky Democratic Party, the election fuels a feeling of desperation. Having watched Republicans take over the state Senate, seven of the eight seats in the state's federal delegation, and courthouses across Kentucky, Democrats hunkered down with a siege mentality as they worked to elect Ben Chandler and maintain their dwindling base of statewide power.

In a passionate speech Thursdaynight at the Bellevue Vets club, Campbell County Democratic Party Chairman Terry Mann used a fire-and-brimstone approach to inspire a room of about 300 party activists and others.

"Go as hard as you can for four days," Mann practically screamed to the crowd. "You can make a difference in this race."

The Democrats claim to have pulled within striking distance of Fletcher, but independent statewide media polls published in the last week of the campaign show the Republicans with a nine-point lead.

Fletcher, a three -term Congressman, sports an impressive resume that includes his stints as a military fighter pilot, a family practice medical doctor, an engineer and Baptist preacher. Though he is a sitting member of Congress and a former state legislator, Fletcher has cast himself as the outsider on a mission to "clean up the waste, fraud and abuse in Frankfort."

He and the Republicans could not have been handed a better situation for their reform platform than the messy and very public sexual affair two-term Democratic Gov. Paul Patton had with businesswoman Tina Conner.

But if there is a Democrat who can position himself as an outsider within the party and the Frankfort establishment, it is Chandler, who over 12 years in state office - eight as attorney general and four as auditor - has established a record of taking on the Democratic power structure.

Chandler investigated Patton in connection with his affair and charges he traded political favors for sex, indicted four of Patton's top aides for election fraud and conducted a probe of a House Democrats for their alleged role in a prostitution ring.

"I've never backed down from anyone, including members of my own party," Chandler said. "If people want change, I've worked for change for years and took on the tough fights. And I've got the enemies to prove it.

Yet because he has been an elected Democratic official voters may have a hard time seeing Chandler as the true reformer in the race, said Dr. Michael Thomson, head of the political science department at Northern Kentucky University.

"It's very difficult to run a reform campaign against your own party," Thomson said.

Chandler has also staked much of his campaign on criticism of President George W. Bush's economic policies, which Fletcher supported as a member of Congress. Those policies, Chandler has repeatedly argued, have cost Kentucky 67,000 jobs.

"Ernie Fletcher talks about the mess in Frankfort," Chandler said. "Well how about the mess in Washington?"

That argument was likely diluted last week with the release of information from the U.S. Commerce Department showing the economy surged at a 7.2 percent annual rate between July and September, the fastest pace of growth in 19 years.

"This is huge," Fletcher said in Louisville last week. "I think our approach has worked and ... the difference is leadership."

Bush, who campaigned for Fletcher in southern and western Kentucky on Saturdayhas also remained hugely popular in Kentucky as a whole and Northern Kentucky in particular, polling has shown.

Area Republicans have suggested that with Fletcher in Frankfort the region will get more attention and tax dollars that it has under past Democratic administrations.

"Northern Kentucky ... is an economic engine that's been really not very well utilized by the state," Fletcher said last week during a campaign stop in Edgewood. "It hasn't been taken advantage of in the sense that the economic growth that could have occurred here."

Chandler and the Democrats are convinced they will run strong in Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties, cutting into what has been a traditional GOP base for a decade. In his past campaign Chandler has run better here than most other Democrats.

"Northern Kentucky Democrats are as fired up as I've ever seen them," said Howard Tankersley, Democratic chairman in Boone County, the largest GOP county in the state based on voter registrations. "People will think I'm nuts, but I even think we'll do well in Boone County. We may not win it, but we'll do better than expected."

The Associated Press contributed. E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com