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Monday, Nov. 30, 2009

Much on the line in Senate special election

SPRINGFIELD — Derinda Osbourne had a question for Democrat Jodie Haydon.

How does he differ from Republican Jimmy Higdon in the fierce race for the state Senate that has statewide — and possibly national — political implications, she asked the campaigning Haydon.

The race, which voters in five counties that lie in the heart of the Bluegrass State will decide Dec. 8, could spell further erosion of the nearly decade-long Republican control of the state Senate.

It also could help determine the fate of expanded gambling in Kentucky and, consequently, the future of two of the state's leading politicians — Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and Senate President David Williams, a Republican — who differ on the controversial issue.

Some observers also say the special election will affect the way state legislators redraw the boundaries of U.S. Congressional districts in Kentucky after next year's national census, since the party in control of the Senate will want redistricting favorable to its candidates.

For all these reasons, interest is high in the special Senate election.

When Haydon, a former state House member who runs a construction company in Bardstown, got Osbourne's question, he pounced on it with his standard campaign line.

"I'm the one who can help this district," Haydon said. "Mr. Higdon can't. He has to answer to David Williams, and Williams has been a dictator for Kentucky. We've got to get beyond this gridlock."

A day earlier, Higdon, a Lebanon grocer who has been in the state House since 2003, got to answer a similar question.

"There's a world of differences between us," Higdon said during a stop in Campbellsville. "Jodie Haydon voted for $1 billion worth of taxes when he was in the legislature, while I voted for $400 million worth of tax relief.

"And Haydon said at a Farm Bureau forum that he was going to Frankfort to pass the governor's agenda. He called me a lap dog for David Williams, which is not true. He's going to be a lap dog for Steve Beshear."

In these cool, waning days of autumn, Haydon and Higdon are traversing the 14th Senate District in search of votes for the special election to replace Republican Dan Kelly of Springfield.

Kelly left the seat that covers Marion, Mercer, Nelson, Taylor and Washington counties to accept a Beshear appointment to a circuit judgeship.

Beshear is trying to put the district in the Democratic fold to wrest control of the Senate from Williams, whom the governor says has been the roadblock to his campaign promise to expand gambling in the state.

Beshear has campaigned in every county in the district for Haydon.

If Beshear and his fellow Democrats win the seat, they will continue their quest to chip away at GOP control of the Senate and get closer to expanded gambling. Democrats have won the last two special elections for the Senate.

With a Haydon victory, Republicans will hold only a razor-thin 19-18 majority in the chamber. If Democrats then pick up another seat, or if a Republican aligns with the Democrats, Williams could lose his leadership position.

On the other hand, a Higdon win would be a big boost to Williams' control and possibly make Beshear vulnerable in his re-election bid in 2011.

'Out of his mind'

Williams is actively campaigning for Higdon. The Senate president bristles when he hears Haydon refer to him as a dictator and talk of Senate gridlock.

"Yes, I have stopped tax increases, but on every major issue I have had input from Democratic leaders," Williams said.

"Jodie Haydon is ridiculous, out of his mind, when he says there has been gridlock. We even let an expanded gambling bill go to committee this year, but the committee voted it down.

"What's really happening here is that the governor wants to give the horse industry a monopoly by allowing slots machines solely at racetracks and Jimmy Higdon thinks the people should get to vote on the issue through a constitutional amendment."

Higdon voted against an expanded gambling bill this year in the House that would have allowed video lottery terminals at the tracks.