KENTUCKY GOVERNOR GUARDING AGAINST COMPLACENCY

Patton, a Democrat who is the first Kentucky governor in two centuries to
be eligible to seek successive terms, has drawn no serious opposition. He
faces an oddball Republican who was all but abandoned by her party, and
another candidate -- adopted by the Reform Party -- who has lost three
previous statewide campaigns and has backed legalization of marijuana.

Patton has ``made a pretty good Republican,'' said GOP state Sen. Albert
Robinson. ``I think that's one reason he's not had serious opposition.'' A
millionaire former coal mine operator who served a term as lieutenant
governor, Patton spends most of his campaign appearances warning supporters
against complacency. He has made a plea for a big vote, a mandate for
Patton to enter the uncharted territory of a second term.

``We are working as hard as we can to produce a victory that will allow the
governor to go into the General Assembly with what he hope will be a
mandate,'' said Patton's campaign manager, Kim Geveden.

Voters in 1992 changed the state constitution to allow succession for the
first time since 1799.

Patton has championed changes in the state's expensive workers'
compensation program, which won him points with business groups and cost
him the support of unions. He also rammed an overhaul of the state's higher
education system past the political might of the University of Kentucky.

The Republican Party failed to field a single candidate for any of the five
other constitutional officers on the Nov. 2 ballot, giving Democrats a free
ride.

The GOP gubernatorial nominee is Peppy Martin, a free-lance publicist who
has never before held political office and barely won her own primary over
a candidate who did not campaign.

Her most memorable campaign moments have been her choice of 1950s-era
dresses during a televised debate and primary election night, and her
contention that she could all but eliminate state taxes through an
ill-defined investment program in church bonds. In interview, she has also
made wild and unsubstantiated allegations about the governor.

Ms. Martin is all but ignored by fellow Republicans and raised only $20,903
in contributions for her campaign.

Second place in the voting may go to Gatewood Galbraith, a Lexington lawyer
who first ran for commissioner of agriculture in 1983 on legalize-marijuana
platform. He also ran for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1991
and 1995. He planned an independent campaign this year and then won the
endorsement of the Reform Party.

John Hochstetter, a spokesman for the Democratic Governors Association,
where Patton is to take over as chairman in January if he is re-elected,
said Patton's opponents aren't credible.

``He's running against a woman who comes to a debate in a prom dress and a
self-styled leading hemp-slash-marijuana activist,'' Hochstetter said.