By the numbers: How Herald-Leader journalists covered this historic election

Covering politics can be a lot.

But it’s also, in our unbiased assessment, one of the most rewarding and fun journalistic pursuits.

And in this year’s governor’s race and all the hoopla leading up to it, it’s been vital to step up and deliver readers what they need to know about the candidates, the shape of this campaign, and what the next four years under Gov. Andy Beshear or Republican gubernatorial candidate Attorney General Daniel Cameron might look like.

For nearly two years, our journalists — photographers, reporters, columnists, and even editors — have been investigating, checking facts, tracking campaign contributions, filing campaign dispatches, covering debates, snapping photos, shooting video and doing all we can to offer the most comprehensive political coverage in the commonwealth.

How’d we do it? Here’s an overview:

Debates covered? 12.

Stories on this race from the Bluegrass Politics team in 2023: 350 and counting.

Campaign finance reports combed through? 9.

Fancy Farm picnics attended? 2.

Austin Horn, Politics Reporter

Miles driven: Somewhere around 1,500. But I love Paducah so much that I’ll gladly take the wear and tear for that trek.

Number of $1 cheesy bean and rice burritos (which, it must be noted, make for a cost efficient and surprisingly not uber-unhealthy fast food option): 18, give or take.

Times I’ve refreshed the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance website: More than any one man should.

Favorite story I worked on: Probably the two overviews of how both candidates fit in their respective parties. Now is a pivotal time for a state GOP that, as its power grows so does its internecine conflict. For Democrats, it was important to raise the questions: what would a Beshear loss mean for a party on the ropes?

Beshear’s most-repeated line: “This economy is on fire.”

Cameron’s most-repeated line: “This election is about crazy versus normal.”

Best moment on the trail: Former Gov. Matt Bevin, we know from polling, did a lot to make many Kentuckians unhappy. But if you can’t laugh at what he pulled on the day of the filing deadline for statewide office in early January 2023, you might not have a great sense of humor.

Chatter in Frankfort had been swirling around the potential for Bevin to make another run at governor after only losing to Beshear by a slim margin of about 5,000 votes last time. As a reporter, it seemed like I never heard from someone who spoke directly with Bevin about the subject. However, everyone I spoke with claimed to have a source who’d spoken to him — and the messages were mixed. Some said he’d sit it out, others said he’d make a run at it.

Then, bam!

“A beautiful day dawning in Kentucky… Make it a great day!”

Bevin posted that to Twitter, then still called Twitter, along with a sunrise picture from a highway at 8:08 a.m. that morning. It didn’t take a super sleuth to figure out he was headed East toward Frankfort on I-64 from Louisville, where he lives.

So “Bevin Watch” commences. Half the Kentucky press corps camps out in front of the Secretary of State’s office and waits.

Time goes by, Secretary of State Michael Adams popped some popcorn, and the former governor finally pulls in.

He gets to the rotunda, makes a long and serious speech about all the issues Kentucky is still facing — state pensions, child welfare, economic growth, and the state of Louisville’s West End — that sounds a lot like a campaign platform.

Bevin went on for more than 20 minutes. Then he just walked out. A master stroke troll of the entire press corps, many legislators and a not insignificant chunk of the state.

It was at best an opportunity to address urgent issues that the former governor felt still needed to be addressed and at worst an attempt to feel relevant again and get some news coverage. Any way you cut it, it worked. And, for this politics reporter, it was about as funny as it gets in a job where there’s no shortage of silly business.

(Honorable mention: when 12th-place GOP gubernatorial primary finisher Dennis Ormerod took a full two minutes of allotted time at a forum to play off his phone speaker the seminal 1965 hit “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by The Byrds. He didn’t say a word. He just closed his eyes and vibed to the music.)

Funniest exchange: Somerset Mayor and GOP gubernatorial primary sixth-place finisher Alan Keck: “I want a Kentucky where we lift each other up.”

Fourth-place GOP primary finisher Eric Deters: “’Kumbaya didn’t work.”

Keck: “It’s worked in Somerset.”

Deters: “No, it hasn’t. You’ve got a drug problem and a water problem.”

Number of laptops stolen out of my car? 1. And that happened just 15 days before Election Day.

Appearances on KET’s Comment on Kentucky: Quite a few. Please keep inviting me after the election, KET. I promise I can riff on something that’s not this election.

Tessa Duvall, Frankfort Bureau Chief

Miles driven: 2,810. Not that I’m keeping count, or anything.

Audio books completed on the road: 22. (Send recommendations to tduvall@herald-leader.com, thanks.)

Ounces McDonald’s iced coffee consumed: Don’t ask.

Favorite story I worked on: In a previous role, I covered the Breonna Taylor case extensively. Given Cameron’s role as the special prosecutor in that case — and his decision not to charge any officers for her death — I’ve been uniquely positioned to cover how that now intersects with his gubernatorial ambitions.

Outside of Kentucky, many folks know Cameron’s name only in conjunction with Taylor, but in much of the state, that’s not the case. Back in August, I did a deep dive into the various ways Cameron’s link to the case could play out in the contest against Beshear: Is it a liability? Who, if anyone, attacks him for it? Will it bolster fundraising for Beshear?

Beshear’s most-memorable line: “When you are on a historic win streak, you don’t fire the coach. You don’t sub out the quarterback.”

Cameron’s most-memorable line: For me, this is a tossup between “leaving it all on the field” (often paired with a self-deprecating joke about his lack of playing time on the University of Louisville football team) or representing “the values of the men, women and children of all 120 counties.”

Most-memorable moment on the trail: I joined the Herald-Leader on Monday, Aug. 1, 2022. I remember this exactly because within a few days of settling on that date, I realized I’d picked the week of Fancy Farm.

As both a native 270 girl and political science nerd in school, I’d always wanted to go to Fancy Farm... just maybe not on Day 6 of the new gig. A new gig on a new beat, at that.

Sure, I followed Kentucky politics, but that’s no where near the same as covering Kentucky politics.

Talk about drinking from a fire hose.

But nevertheless, I headed west to Paducah.

Honestly, I was so new on the job that I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

I went to the various night-before and morning-of events leading up to political speeches, shook a lot of hands and tried my very best to retain all the new names and faces I was learning.

At one point, I remember Austin telling me he wanted to see if Max Wise was around to talk to, because rumors were swirling he was going to be Kelly Craft’s running mate once she announced her candidacy.

When Austin said that, I remember thinking to myself, “Who the heck is Max Wise?” (My sincerest apologies, Senator, and thank you for recommending Ted Lasso. I finally watched it!)

Like I said, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

I had the mutton (didn’t care for it). I suffered some hearing loss (only temporarily). And most of all, I sweated (so, so, so much).

Most unexpected recurring theme of the election: This feels like ages ago now, but remember when a political action committee backing Craft depicted Cameron as… a teddy bear? That suit-wearing teddy bear — and his strangely ominous, dark eyes — is etched into my memory.

And then there were the follow-ups!

Teddy Cameron was later spotted hanging out with ACLU Teddy, who rocked a green mohawk! Then Teddy Cameron was sporting a “WOKE” lapel pin and paling around with Teddy Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney prosecuting former president Donald Trump.

For a not-insignificant amount of time, the entire Kentucky press corps was thinking about teddy bears more than we ever could have predicted.

(Honorable mention to Ryan Quarles’ Big Red Truck. Beep beep!)

Appearances on KET’s Comment on Kentucky: 15.

Number of Mike Harmon dad jokes: Frankly, not enough.

Times I’ve said ‘I just need to make it until Nov. 7 and then things will slow down’: The limit does not exist.