Posted on 02/08/2004 12:30:55 PM PST by Theodore R.
Candidates driving home a few differences EACH HOPES RETOOLED IMAGE WILL SWAY VOTERS
By Ryan Alessi HERALD-LEADER FRANKFORT BUREAU
When voters in Kentucky's 6th Congressional District go to the polls in less than 10 days, among other things, they'll be judging competing makeovers.
Democrat Ben Chandler, stung by a 10-point loss in last fall's governor's race, has been reinventing his image ever since.
Republican Alice Forgy Kerr, a low-profile state lawmaker from Lexington, has been equally busy trying to craft an image for strangers scattered across 16 Central Kentucky counties.
And both are having their problems--- complicated in no small way by each one's efforts to undermine the other in a race dominated by television sound bites.
Kerr and Chandler are the main candidates competing in the Feb. 17 special election for the seat in Washington vacated when former congressman Ernie Fletcher was elected governor. A third hopeful, Libertarian Mark Gailey of Berea, is running a limited campaign.
The winner will serve 10 months, which means two more rounds of 6th District campaigning before Nov. 2 -- in the May primaries and then the general election.
With time short -- the current race began in December -- Chandler and Kerr have met in only one public forum. Over the last six weeks, they have relied mostly on saturation TV advertising to tailor and retailor the portraits they hope to embed in the minds of the district's 442,000 voters.
"Candidates are constantly trying to keep tabs on how their image is coming across, talking to folks, gauging reaction and tinkering or making even larger-scale changes," said Joe Gershtenson, director of the Center for History and Politics at Eastern Kentucky University. "Image is crucial."
For Chandler, a former Kentucky attorney general and grandson of fabled Gov. A.B. "Happy" Chandler, name recognition has never been a problem, and he is counting on that for a significant number of votes.
But his failed bid for governor shaded his image in ways he is now trying to change. Tarred as a "Frankfort politician" last fall by Fletcher, Chandler is billing himself as the "independent" candidate -- which also contrasts him to Kerr, who has been portraying herself as a dedicated GOP loyalist.
Chandler is highlighting his more conservative views, in part to court swing voters who largely abandoned him in November. And while he heaped criticism on President Bush's economic policies in that race, Chandler now avoids any references to Pennsylvania Avenue.
"I don't want it to be me against Bush. It's not," he said in a recent interview. "I will support the president if he's right. It depends on the particular issue."
This time Kerr came out talking non-stop about Bush. Most of her television ads depicted her as practically a sidekick. Her message: She not only supports Bush's policies, but would have ready access to the White House on issues important to Kentucky.
But Kerr now has eased back from that message, shifting toward a neighbor-next-door image. She talks about motherhood -- both being a mom and serving as the primary caregiver several years ago to her own mother.
"I am not a career politician. I am a wife. I am a mother. I took care of my mom and I work as a part-time legislator," she said in closing her televised appearance with Chandler last weekend.
Close on many issues
Kerr and Chandler are unexpectedly close on many issues.
Both say they would have voted to send troops to Iraq. Both would support a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. And both pledge not to raise social security payroll taxes, reduce benefits or raise the enrollment age.
One of Kerr's first promises was that she would support making Bush's federal tax cut package permanent. Bits and pieces, which include a $1,000 child tax credit for many families, expire over the next 10 years.
"The tax cuts are probably the most dynamic example of what President Bush has done that affects us in a tangible way," said Ted Jackson, Republican political consultant from Louisville. He said Kerr's talk about Bush's tax cuts provides "a reminder and motivating factor" to help pull the GOP's "core base of motivated voters" to the polls.
Chandler says he's for tax cuts, too, but for middle- and lower-income people who he says were ignored by Bush.
He is also heavily courting veterans, promising to fight any effort to close the Leestown Road Veterans Hospital.
One reason: Polls last fall showed Chandler scored best with voters 65 and older. That group also turns out to vote most consistently.
Chandler's stance on a constitutional amendment regarding marriage, though contrary to some Democrats' philosophies, has been "a smart move," said Dale Emmons, a Democratic political consultant who is advising the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
"He is trying to say to the Republicans, 'I'm not your worst enemy.' And it speaks to the Democrats who have been voting Republican because they're social conservatives," Emmons said.
Actions louder than words
But Chandler argues that his and Kerr's promises about the future are largely academic anyway.
As he fielded questions about taxes and Medicare in a recent interview, Chandler steered the conversation to a pet campaign theme: Voters should base their decision on candidates' records, not their positions.
"What matters is who's going to stand up for the rights of this district based on what they have done, not what pretty words come out of their mouth," he said.
His commercials note that as attorney general, he sued former Gov. Paul Patton, a fellow Democrat, to stop the early release of state prisoners, which Patton proposed as a cost-saving move.
Other ads remind voters that Chandler played a key role in investigating a legislative scandal in which a Capitol aide was indicted for setting up prostitution and gambling junkets for lawmakers.
Chandler and Kerr have dueled furiously over the one instance when their trails in Frankfort indirectly crossed, but voters may have a hard time picking a winner.
The 2000 General Assembly passed a bill containing a well-disguised provision that would have nearly doubled lawmakers' pensions. Kerr voted for it.
When the impact became clear later, Chandler, as the state's lawyer, challenged the legislation, and last summer the state supreme court struck it down. But Kerr says she agrees with the court's decision.
Still, Kerr has a distinct disadvantage when it comes to generating headlines over the years. She's in the least-active third of current senators when it comes to introducing legislation, though it's not the only indicator of legislative success.
In the past four years, she has been a primary author of 15 bills. The Senate average is about 25 in that period, according to Legislative Research Com-mission records.
Three of Kerr's bills -- 20 percent -- have become law, including one extending Medicare coverage for breast cancer treatments, which she mentions in her ads. Overall, between 20 and 30 percent of bills introduced in the General Assembly each session become law.
But Kerr says being a legislator-isn't just about writing bills.
She points to two instances in which she helped get money for Lexington by working the Senate's Republican leadership: $4.9 million in school funds that would have been lost because of a late application, and $15 million for Rupp Arena.
In the same way, she maintains, as part of a GOP-led Congress and as an ally of the Republican president, she'll be able to pull strings for Central Kentucky in Washington.
"You cannot go to Washington and be a one-man or one-woman show," she said in a swipe at Chandler's "independence" theme.
And she does have support there. For example, Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Somerset and chairman of the committee that doles out federal funds, said if Kerr wins, he and other GOP leaders would help her get more road funding for Lexington.
"She will have a personal relationship with the chairman of the appropriations committee," he said, referring to himself. "I don't think the other guy will," he said, meaning Chandler.
Chandler, however, says he doesn't see Congress as a place where "you have to go along to get along." He envisions himself rebuffing lobbyists and special interests and even voting with Republicans if it helps the 6th District.
And former Democratic Sen. Wendell Ford predicted Chandler wouldn't exactly be ignored in Congress. He should "get decent committee appointments" because national Democratic leaders want to keep the seat and because many know him -- or at least his image.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reach Ryan Alessi at (859) 231-1303 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 1303, or ralessi@-herald-leader.com.
NO Doubt, about it.
Nearly every election since the Lexington Leader & Lexington Herald merged in the mid-70s. The so-called (FISHWRAPPER) of a paper has prostituted its' self to every liberal Dogma...class warfare, racial divisions, aberrant lifestyles...And now, the LHL is trying to pushing this guy as a "Conservative Dem."..."Bwarney" Franks/"Botox" Peliosi will mostly "HAVE" they're way with him, 'fer sure...."The FISHWRAPPER , has only 3 uses; the sports section and coupons...rest is C**p!, useful for wrapping garbage/lining birdcages."
Reach Ryan Alessi at (859) 231-1303 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 1303, or ralessi@herald-leader.com
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
