The scholars I cite are among the numerous sources of ideas, information, and encouragement. Some of Kentucky's leading citizens, officeholders, and political activists gave freely of their precious time and energies to sit for interviews, to respond to surveys, to share with me their irreplacable experience and insight. I interviewed a number of candidates and campaign leaders in the 1987 and 1991 Democratic primaries, as well as party leaders in both parties. Nearly a thousand persons active in Democratic gubernatorial primary campaigns ( 1979 to 1987) filled out lengthy questionnaires, some of them on two occasions.

As Chair of the Kentucky Commission on Women and a member of the Kentucky Long-Range Policy Planning Center Board during the Brereton Jones administration, I was able to view firsthand the workings of state government in Frankfort. Though there was a risk of becoming too much of a participant, these roles gave me the opportunity to talk on an informal basis with many legislators, administrators, lobbyists, judicial officers, and participants in the political process at every level.

State and local newspapers were another major and critical source of current period information, and I gained valuable insights from reporters who cover politics firsthand. These journalists, primarily reporters and editors for the LouisvilleCourier-Journal and Lexington Herald-Leader, are noted in numerous endnotes.

My students at Temple and Kentucky were also of great help. My courses on state government at both universities, and Kentucky politics at the University of Kentucky, required me to integrate my analysis and to question my data and conclusions. One of these students in particular, Lindsay Campbell, assisted tirelessly with the preparation of chapter 16.

Finally, my family's innumerable contributions to the book's progress were indispensable. Bob, Jennifer, Jonathan, and Lisa--my husband and children--cared about me equally when it was going well and badly. Bob has long been a patient and supportive reader as well as a good editor. My parents, Myrtle and Arnold Mullens, and good friends added to the necessary encouragement at the times when this project seemed farthest from completion.

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