Legislators agree on one thing: Lincoln

In the historic Old State Capitol in downtown Frankfort, Kentucky lawmakers met in session Tuesday to honor the legacy of native son Abraham Lincoln.

The cooperative spirit of the nation's 16th president permeated the stately structure as the House and Senate for the first time this session agreed on a measure. It was a resolution in honor of Lincoln on the anniversary of his 199th birthday.

Before the speeches began, Kentucky State University's concert choir received heavy applause for a rousing rendition of Battle Hymn of the Republic.

State Sen. Julian Carroll, a 76-year-old Democrat and former governor from Frankfort, said during a floor speech that a colleague asked him in jest which of the Senate seats in the Old Capitol was his.

"I told him I don't remember," Carroll said.

House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, said of Lincoln, "Other states may claim him, but his spirit remains here." Richards called Lincoln "our greatest Kentuckian."

Senate Majority Leader Dan Kelly, R-Springfield, expressed condolences to the people of Hodgenville and LaRue County, who had planned for years a celebration Tuesday to kick off the Lincoln bicentennial nationwide but saw it canceled because of inclement weather.

Kelly said he would like to see the next president visit Hodgenville, the site of Lincoln's birth, on Feb. 12 next year.

Tuesday's nasty weather, said Kent Whitworth, executive director of the Kentucky Historical Society, perhaps was Lincoln's "way of getting back at Kentucky for the elections of 1860 and 1864."

The state never voted for its native son.