By Armen Toumajan
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 8

Delegates: 58

Chairman: William Londrigan

Hotel: Ramada West Hollywood (310) 652-6400

1996 Election:
Clinton – 46%
Dole – 45%
Perot – 9%

By the time Kentucky's primary came around May 23, Vice President Al Gore's presidential nomination long had been a foregone conclusion. Gore took 71 percent of the state vote to defeat former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley and claim all but a handful of the state's delegates.

Gore's general election contest against the Republican nominee, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, will be a much tougher battle, though.

Kentucky is a traditionally Democratic state - more than 60 percent of the state's voters are registered Democrats - but its strain of Southern-style conservatism has resulted in Republican gains.

The GOP now holds seven of the state's eight congressional seats and has a narrow majority in the state Senate. Democrat Bill Clinton did win Kentucky's eight electoral votes twice with Gore as his running mate, but his plurality wins were narrow: He defeated President George Bush by 45 percent to 41 percent in 1992 and Republican nominee Bob Dole by 46 percent to 45 percent in 1996.

The Democrats do hold the governor's chair, though, with Paul E. Patton - an early supporter of Gore's presidential campaign - easily winning a second term in 1999. Patton is a delegate to this year's national convention, as is his daughter Nicki Patton, the state Democratic Party chairman.

The party's alliance with organized labor is embodied in William J. Londrigan, president of Kentucky's AFL-CIO, who is chairman of the state's delegation to Los Angeles.

Some Kentucky delegates will be bringing their concerns about certain Clinton-Gore administration policies to the convention with them. Paramount among these are the strong anti-tobacco stands promoted by the administration.

Gary Lynn Dennis, a former county Democratic Party chairman in western Kentucky, contended that "the continuing regulation . . . of the tobacco industry [is] driving the tobacco farmer out of business."

Democratic National Committeewoman Moretta Bosley, a past vice chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party, said Gore "needs to take a stand on tobacco before he can show that he can help the small farmers."

The hotel assignment for the Kentucky delegation underscores the national Democratic Party's commitment to diversity at its convention - and might test the commitment to those principles of some of the delegation's more conservative members.

The Kentuckians are scheduled to stay at the Ramada Inn in West Hollywood, the hub of the Los Angeles gay community. The hotel has a Web site, www.thegayhotel.com, that describes its welcoming attitude towards its gay clientele.

KENTUCKY NOTABLES: Gov. Paul E. Patton; Kentucky AFL-CIO President William J. Londrigan, the delegation chairman; Lt. Gov. Stephen L. Henry; U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas; state Democratic Party Chairwoman Nicki Patton, the governor's daughter.