Election '98
Bunning has another perfect evening; Ventura slams competition
Posted: Wednesday November 04, 1998 12:32 PM
| |
Jesse "The Governor" Ventura relishes his improbable victory in the Minnesota election AP |
ATLANTA -- A Hall of Fame pitcher, an Olympic runner and a soon-to-be Hall of Fame wide receiver continued their successful transition to the political arena Tuesday, each scoring major re-election victories on Election Day '98.
Former major league hurler Jim Bunning won a battle for Kentucky's open U.S Senate seat, while ex-miler Jim Ryun and former All-Pro receiver Steve Largent
easily defended their U.S. House seats.
And in perhaps the most intriguing race of all, one-time wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura, running as an independent, won the Minnesota gubernatorial race in a major upset.
In Kentucky, Bunning, a Republican, was a winner over Democrat Scotty Baesler, a former Kentucky basketball player, in a heated duel between state representatives.
With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Bunning had about 5,000 more votes than Baesler out of 1,100,000 cast.
Bunning, who was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1996, threw two no-hitters in a 17-year career.
Both candidates had spent freely on the race. Baesler had picked up an endorsement from former Kentucky basketball coach (now coach of the Boston Celtics) Rick Pitino, while Bunning was supported by University of Louisville coach Denny Crum.
|
Ballparks on the ballot
| |
In San Diego, early returns showed strong support for a proposal to spend $275 million in public funds on a new ballpark for baseball's Padres. The money will come mostly from bonds, which are to be paid off through hotel taxes and new property taxes created by the project. It's all part of a proposed $411 million redevelopment with the ballpark at its center. Backers say the stadium is needed to keep baseball in San Diego. Opponents see it as a public subsidy of a private company.
In Denver, voters were approving a proposal that extends an existing 0.1 percent sales tax to pay for a new stadium for the Broncos. The tax would be capped at about $467 million. Backers say the stadium is needed to keep the Broncos in town, to replace aging Mile high Stadium and to keep the Super Bowl champion Broncos economically viable. Opponents point out the Broncos have a lease through 2018, and that the proposal makes them pay an unfair portion of the bill -- about 75 percent.
In Cincinnati, voters had already agreed to subsidize a new ballpark for the Reds. On Tuesday, they voted to put it on the Ohio River, near the stadium that is now being built for the NFL's Bengals, rejecting a downtown site known as Broadway Commons.
| |
| |
Baesler, a former mayor of Lexington who played basketball under legendary Adolph Rupp, is a lawyer and a tobacco farmer -- the only tobacco farmer in Congress. Bunning, a right-hander who threw a no-hitter while with the Detroit Tigers in 1958 and a perfect game while with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1964, has been a member of the House for 12 years.
The two spent more than $5 million on their campaigns -- or almost $2 per registered voter in the state, according to The Lexington Herald-Leader.
In Kansas, Ryun, a former Olympian and one of the premier milers of his time, was an easy winner in the Second Congressional District. The Republican incumbent defeated Democrat Jim Clark, a marketing consultant who never has held public office.
In Oklahoma, Largent, also a Republican, handily won re-election to the First District over Democratic challenger Howard Plowman, a former minister who never has held political office. And in Oklahoma's Fourth District, Republican incumbent J.C. Watts, a former Sooners' quarterback, handily defeated Democrat Ben Odom, a law professor from Norman who served as a district Democratic Party chairman in the early '90s.
In Minnesota, early polling indicated that Ventura, currently mayor of Brooklyn Park, a Minneapolis suburb, might get 15 percent of the vote. Instead, with 78 percent of the precincts reporting, the Reform Party candidate boasted 37 percent and had been declared by CNN as the winner. St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman, a Republican, had 34 percent, while state Attorney General Hubert H. Humphrey III, a Democrat, trailed with 29 percent.
|
