By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

FORT MITCHELL - Actor George Clooney brings his mega-star power to Kenton County late today to win money and votes for his father's political campaign.

Call it the "George factor."

Actor George Clooney is lending support to his father's campaign. (AP/file photo)

The actor arrives as the star attraction at two political fund-raisers for Nick Clooney, a Bracken County Democrat running for Northern Kentucky's seat in Congress.

But as an outspoken liberal Democrat who has called President Bush "dim," mocked National Rifle Association President Charlton Heston - a GOP icon - and generally bashed all things Republican, George is also putting some uncomfortable political heat on his dad.

So will the George factor be a help or hindrance to Nick Clooney's political aspirations?

"It really cuts two ways," said Amy Walter, who follows Congressional races for The Cook Report, a respected Washington-based political newsletter. "And it depends who you are and whom you support.

"It will help the other side to make its case that Nick Clooney is out of touch with voters in his district and is depending on liberal elite Hollywood money coming into the district," she said.

"But others see George Clooney as a popular figure and a very attractive actor, period," Walter added. "He's not a politician. And (Nick Clooney) is not bringing in a controversial political figure, he's bringing in his son who also happens to be an actor."

Nick Clooney is running in Kentucky's Fourth Congressional District, which covers 24 counties and snakes along the Ohio River from Ashland in the east to near Louisville in the west. He is running for the seat held by U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas. The three-term Boone County Democrat, is retiring from at the end of this year.

Three Republicans are in a primary race to be decided May 18:

• Boone County business consultant Geoff Davis, who narrowly lost to Lucas two years ago.

• Kevin Murphy, an Erlanger lawyer and former head of the Kenton County Republican Party.

• Dr. John Kelly King, a Boone County chiropractor making his first run for public office.

George Clooney is due to arrive by private jet around 4 p.m. He will attend a $1,000-per person fund-raiser at 5:30 p.m. at a home in Villa Hills, then appear at a reception in a private room at the Oriental Wok in Fort Mitchell that begins at 7:30 p.m. A contribution of $250 to his dad's campaign is required to attend the Wok event.

On Sunday, the Clooneys travel to Louisville for another fund-raiser hosted by Mayor Jerry Abramson.

None of the events is open to the press. Nick's handlers fear that George will make a critical comment about Republicans that will come back to haunt his father on the campaign trail.

"This isn't about George Clooney," Bob Doyle, Nick Clooney's Washington-based political consultant, has said. "It's about a son helping a father. And Nick has his own views that are very indicative of the values of the Fourth District."

But muzzling George now may be too late. He already has a reputation among conservatives and Republicans as a mouthy liberal actor who takes cheap shots at GOP leaders. For instance:

• He called Bush "dim" in an article published last year in GQ magazine.

• During an appearance on the Charlie Rose talk show on PBS, Clooney was critical of Bush's policy on Iraq and likened his administration to The Sopranos, a television organized crime family.

• While accepting an award he deadpanned that Heston "announced again today that he is suffering from Alzheimer's" disease, a jab that Heston was losing his memory because of the ailment.

• He has sparred openly in the media with Fox News Channel talker Bill O'Reilly, another favorite of conservatives.

Davis spokesman Justin Brasell said the son puts the father "in a bad position."

"They can't win without George, because Nick can't raise the money on his own," Brasell said. "And they might not be able to win with George because he's so controversial."

But Covington Democratic activist Diane Brumback said Republicans are miscalculating George Clooney's impact on the race.

"George Clooney is not pretending to be anything more than a famous person who is supporting his father's run for public office," said Brumback, president of Kentucky Women in Action, a bipartisan group that advocates women's involvement in politics and government.

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E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com