By Bruce Schreiner
The Associated Press

LOUISVILLE - Kentucky delegates to the Republican National Convention in New York, playing to President Bush's strongest hand, picked the fight against terrorism as the nation's top priority.

In a pre-convention survey by The Associated Press, terrorism was mentioned most often by delegates as the next president's top issue in 2005, no matter who wins the election.

"We are in the middle of a war," said Jack Richardson IV of Louisville, a delegate who also is Republican chairman of Jefferson County. The terrorism threat remains "very real and present," Richardson said.

Forty-five of the delegation's 46 members were included in the survey. Of those who ranked the issues for 2005, 12 cited fighting terrorism as the top issue. Eight others listed it as No. 2 and one delegate listed it third.

Seven delegates said the economy was top priority. Six others placed it second and five rated it third.

Education received a top-three ranking from 13 delegates - nine of whom rated it third, while two each put it first and second.

Health care was next, with eight delegates ranking it third, one delegate rating it second and one putting it at the top.

The situation in Iraq was ranked as the first priority by three delegates and second by six. Not all of the delegates ranked the issues for the survey.

Delegates said Bush, as the incumbent who presided over a stunned nation following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, had the advantage over Democrat John Kerry on national security issues.

"What you have in Bush is a steady hand at the tiller," U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said in a follow-up interview.

McConnell noted the absence of attacks in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists turned hijacked airliners into flying bombs.

"People will look at George Bush and see that he's done everything he possibly can to make America a safer place and that he has taken the fight to the terrorists," Kentucky GOP Chairman John McCarthy said.

Richardson said Bush's decisiveness is among his attributes.

"He is sure of himself, he's sure of the course that needs to be taken and he is not hesitant and doesn't flip-flop on what needs to be done," Richardson said.

State Democratic Chairman Bill Garmer, meanwhile, said Bush has been overrated for his handling of the terrorism threat.

"If Tom Ridge is telling us we're under high alert, and they're at the same time saying they are doing a good job on terrorism, there seems to be a disconnect somewhere," Garmer said.

"Either they are scaring us for good reason and they're not doing a good job, or they're scaring us for no reason."

Ridge is Bush's homeland security secretary.

McCarthy predicted the convention would focus more on Bush than on attacking Kerry. He said Bush's acceptance speech Thursday night would give the president a chance to lay out his plans for a second term.

Rep. Jeff Hoover of Jamestown, minority leader in the Kentucky House, said national security should a major theme of Bush's speech.

Bush "has to reassure the country that he is a strong leader, that he has a vision, that there is an objective in place for long-term national security as well as progress around the world," Hoover said.

The Kentucky delegation will be on a tight schedule at the convention, but Hoover said he hoped to take time for some sightseeing.

He said he wants to visit the Statue of Liberty and retrace the steps of his step-grandfather, who arrived as an immigrant from Yugoslavia after World War II. His step-grandfather is 85 now and lives in Chicago.

"I've always wanted to go to Ellis Island and just view what he came through to come to this country," Hoover said.

The Kentucky contingency reflects the GOP's ascendancy in the state.

Delegates include Ernie Fletcher, the state's first Republican governor in a generation, as well as both U.S. senators - McConnell and Jim Bunning, who is running this fall for a second term.

Other delegates include U.S. Reps. Harold "Hal" Rogers and Anne Northup, state Senate President David Williams and Secretary of State Trey Grayson.