"Probably the best show I've seen in 20 years," said Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning, who took in the movie at Newport on the Levee. While he said he didn't cry, he did get emotional.

"He was carrying my sins with him on that journey," said Bunning, a Catholic and Republican from Southgate.

Rep. Steve Chabot, a Westwood Republican, called it "a powerful film."

The Catholic, who saw the movie in Norwood, said he got emotional, especially watching the violence inflicted on Jesus Christ.

"The Passion of Christ was a violent historical incident," he said. "It wouldn't be accurate if there wasn't violence in it."

Most of the delegation hasn't seen it. That group includes Sens. Mike DeWine of Ohio and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky; GOP Reps. Rob Portman of Terrace Park and Mike Pence, who represents the I-74 corridor in northern Dearborn County, Ind.; and Democratic Reps. Ken Lucas of Union, Ky., and Baron Hill of Seymour, Ind.

Sen. George Voinovich doesn't have much of a future in movie reviews. The Cleveland Republican saw it, but he declined to say whether he liked it or not.

Bunning's Democratic opponent, state Sen. Dan Mongiardo of Hazard, said he hadn't seen it: "No, I've been busy in session trying to pass a budget."

And Chabot's opponent, Democrat Greg Harris of Cincinnati, said: "I don't need to see the movie. I read the book."

FLOODING THE ZONE: Steven Feldmann, director of community affairs for the Crestview Hills based-Fischer Group, was one of three Kentuckians invited to testify last week at a Senate economic policy subcommittee hearing.

The chairman of that committee? Bunning.

Feldmann, representing the National Association of Homebuilders, urged Congress to keep its national flood insurance program going.

COMING TO WASHINGTON: Juris Mezinskis, a Madeira psychologist, will be at the White House today for a ceremony marking the entry of Latvia and six other former Soviet bloc countries into NATO.

Mezinskis, 56, is vice president of the American Latvian Association.

"I feel honored," he said. "I'm representing 50 years of Latvian Americans trying to restore freedom and democracy in Latvia. This is the culmination of that goal."

RACES, HOT AND NOT: Nonpartisan political mag National Journal rated the race to succeed Ken Lucas in Northern Kentucky as one of the best.

Republicans Geoff Davis of Boone County and Kevin Murphy of Erlanger are duking it out in the GOP primary. And then it gets even more interesting when the winner faces former Cincinnati TV anchor Nick Clooney, father of TV and movie actor George.

Two internal campaign polls last week had Clooney leading Davis by double digits.

National Journal also thinks Hill's re-election in southern Indiana will be interesting. He's in a rematch against Republican Mike Sodrel of New Albany, Ind., who got help raising money Friday from Vice President Dick Cheney.

As for good races in Ohio? Nada.

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E-mail cweiser@gannett.com or call (202) 906-8134.