All Important Kentucky Senate Special Election Tomorrow Brings Out Party Heavyweights Even As Voters Could Stay Home Unimpressed.

Special election Tuesday for Ky. state Senate seat
By: Associated Press Writer
Published: Sat, 08/22 @ 3:38PM
Four former governors gathered Saturday to campaign for a state Senate candidate, sending a strong signal that the outcome has ramifications far beyond the largely rural northeastern Kentucky counties that the winner will represent.

John Y. Brown Jr., Julian Carroll, Brereton Jones and Paul Patton stumped on behalf of Grayson Democrat Robin Webb for a vacant state Senate seat that has been in Republican hands for 18 years.

Webb, a state representative since 1999, faces Russell dermatologist Jack Ditty, a Republican, in the race to replace longtime GOP state Sen. Charlie Borders. Borders resigned last month after Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear gave him a posh position on the Kentucky Public Service Commission that pays more than $100,000 a year.

The move was widely seen as the first step in a broader initiative by Beshear to break the GOP's hold on the Senate, where Republicans now outnumber Democrats 20-16.

"If we don't win this race, it's going to take a lot of wind out of our sails," Patton told about 150 people gathered in a high school auditorium.

Before the Borders departure, another Republican, Sen. Gary Tapp of Shelbyville, announced that he won't seek re-election next year. If Democrats could pick up the Borders and Tapp seats, the GOP's majority would dwindle to 19-18. And if Beshear is able to lure other entrenched Republicans out of the Senate with offers of lucrative positions, independent gubernatorial candidate Gatewood Galbraith said, the balance of power could be tipped to the Democrats.

"I think it's pretty obvious to anyone who has been watching it," Galbraith said.

Jones said the goal is to win enough seats to oust Republican Senate President David Williams, the Republican from Burkesville, who has led the opposition to Beshear's proposal to legalize casino-style gambling in Kentucky.

"We have to make sure that David Williams does not continue to control the state Senate," Jones said.

Brown said Williams has the Senate in a headlock, and that voters need to elect Webb to help "get Williams out."

And that, Galbraith said, explains why the Webb-Ditty legislative race is awash with campaign cash and is drawing the state's political elite to campaign stops.

Democrats aren't alone in sending political heavy hitters to the district. GOP big leaguers U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and Fourth District U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis both have campaigned alongside Ditty.

As of last week, Webb had raised more than $235,000 for her campaign and Ditty $134,000 for his, according to records from the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance. On top of that, the Democratic and Republican parties have been sinking money into harsh television and radio ads.

The Republican ads have been lambasting Webb as a liberal politician who doesn't reflect the values of voters in the district. The Democratic ads have held Ditty up as a medical elitist who doesn't treat poor patients.

Both candidates have complained that the ads distorted the facts, and TV stations even pulled some ads.

Despite the attention the race has received, election officials expect low turnout, even in the two most populous counties, Greenup and Mason.

Greenup County Clerk Pat Hieneman said mountain news coverage and a heavy volume of advertising appears to have increased voter interest in the race somewhat, prompting her to raise her turnout prediction from 12 percent to 20 percent. Mason County Clerk Frances Cotterill said she doesn't expect turnout to reach 20 percent.