With the primary election (finally) over, here is our annual list of campaign awards.

BEST CAMPAIGN: Lots of candidates could qualify, but the award goes to state Sen. Dick Roeding, who overcame Charlie Walton's home turf advantage in Boone County to hang on to his Senate seat.

BEST CAMPAIGN AD: It's Roeding again with a television spot produced by GOP political consultant Marc Wilson. Even Kenton County Democratic Party Chairman Nathan Smith complimented the ad, which - thanks to Roeding's sizable campaign war chest - seemed to play endlessly during the final days of the race.

BIGGEST UPSET: Dennis Keene's win over Campbell County Commissioner Ken Rechtin in the Democrat's 67th District statehouse primary.

BEST MESSAGE: Keene wins again with his message that if Rechtin won the race, the Democrats would lose a seat on the Campbell County Fiscal Court. A great message to have when running in a Democratic primary.

BEST CAMPAIGN PREDICTIONS: Back in February, Justin Brasell, the top adviser to Republican congressional candidate Geoff Davis, said the campaign's polling was showing Davis winning with 60 percent of the vote. He won Tuesday's primary over Kevin Murphy and Kelly King with 58 percent.

The other award goes to Smith, who the night before the election called to say, "Watch out for Keene, he's going to win."

BEST ROOKIE CAMPAIGN: Two first-time candidates stood out. Covington City Commission candidate Rob Sanders came within 11 votes of finishing fourth out of 11 candidates. Four is a magic number in Covington because that's how many commissioners will be elected in the fall. And Boone County Republican Addia Wuchner, who won a Statehouse seat in her first campaign.

WORST START: Republicans are still scratching their heads over Murphy's very first television ad, a diatribe bashing the United Nations. Not a bad topic, but a candidate's first ad is usually a biography piece that introduces the candidate to the voter, not one that scares them.

BEST ISSUE-ORIENTED CAMPAIGN: Murphy came back strong in talking about issues, holding weekly press conferences on a variety of topics and releasing detailed statements on his stances.

BEST EVENT: I wasn't able to attend all the campaign events, debates and forums, but one of the best was staged by Rachel Hastings of the Covington Community Center and lots of other local groups. The Madison was packed with voters as all 11 City Commission candidates were given four minutes to speak.

WORST MUD-SLINGING: Davis and Murphy. They traded charges and accusations like they were on a reality TV show, culminating with Davis' mail piece that said of Murphy, "He's mean, he's liberal, he's deceptive."

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com. Crowley interviews former state Sen. Joe Meyer this week on ICN6's "On the Record," which is broadcast daily on Insight Communications Channel 6.