By Armen Toumajan
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 8

Delegates: 31

Chairman: Sen. Mitch McConnell

Hotel: Hampton Inn Voorhees (856) 346-4500

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

Restoring the White House to Republican hands is "without a doubt" the top priority of Kentucky's delegation to the national convention. So said Ellen Williams, the state's Republican Party chairman and one of its 31 delegates going to Philadelphia.

All 31 are pledged to the GOP's presidential standard-bearer, Texas Gov. George W. Bush. With the competitive phase a distant memory by the time Kentucky voted on May 23, Bush received 83 percent of the vote.

Although Kentucky has a proportional distribution system, no other candidate surpassed the 15 percent threshold to qualify for delegates; Arizona Sen. John McCain was second with 6 percent.

Many Kentucky Republicans are hoping that Bush will restore a level of moral authority that they believe has been missing during the two-term tenure of President Clinton. Bush will bring "integrity and dignity back to the office," asserted Williams.

Williams, whose home state is the site of Fort Knox and Fort Campbell, also attributed great importance to a strong military. "Strength in [the] military must be restored," Williams said.

Green County Judge Executive Mary Ann Blaydes Baron, one of two female judges in the delegation, took a similar position, adding that military staff and soldiers must be paid adequately. "They don't need to be drawing food stamps," she said.

The state's leading elected officials will have a strong presence in its delegation. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who was elected to a third term in 1996, is chairman of the Kentucky delegation for the fourth consecutive convention.

Sen. Jim Bunning, a former major league pitcher who is in baseball's Hall of Fame, is also serving as a delegate. After six terms in the U.S. House, Bunning in 1998 narrowly defeated former Democratic Rep. Scotty Baesler to succeed retired four-term Democratic Sen. Wendell H. Ford.

Freshman 6th District Republican Rep. Ernie Fletcher - who lost to Baesler as a 1996 House challenger, succeeded him by winning the 1998 open-seat race and now faces him again in a closely watched showdown this year - is a delegate. The Fletcher-Baesler contest is one of the few House races nationally ranked as "No Clear Favorite" by Congressional Quarterly.

Kentucky's four other Republican House incumbents - Edward Whitfield, Ron Lewis, Anne M. Northup and Harold Rogers - also are delegates. All four are expected to maintain their seats in the November election.

The Kentucky Republicans are gearing up to try to swing Kentucky's eight electoral votes back to their column after narrow victories by Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Since the 1960 presidential race, Kentucky voters have without exception favored the candidate who has gone on to win the election.

KENTUCKY NOTABLES: U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell (the delegation chairman) and Jim Bunning; U.S. Reps. Ernie Fletcher, Ron Lewis, Anne M. Northup, Harold Rogers and Edward Whitfield; state Senate President David L. Williams.