Senate candidates staying close to home

For Barack Obama, who is a virtual lock to win a US Senate seat in Illinois this fall, there will be a starring role at the Democratic National Convention. But nowhere near Boston during the proceedings next week will be four other Democratic Senate hopefuls, all with a chance of winning -- but in Republican-leaning states.

No, their campaigns said, they are not running away from their party, they are all in tough races and need to spend every minute campaigning at home. For instance, Thursday, when John F. Kerry will be at the FleetCenter, formally accepting the presidential nomination, Brad Carson will be about 1,400 miles away at an Oklahoma City hotel, attending the 52d annual Oklahoma Cattlemen's Convention.

''It's a big deal out here in Oklahoma, really huge," said Kristofer Eisenla, campaign spokesman for Carson, a second-term congressman who is expected to coast to the Democratic nomination for Senate on Tuesday and be very competitive in the November fight to succeed Don Nickles, a four-term Republican who is stepping aside as a senator from a state Kerry has almost no chance of winning. Carson, his spokesman said, is a conservative Democrat, ''running his own race here, and he wants to spend as much time as he can in direct contact with the people of Oklahoma."

Senate races in a dozen states are likely to determine control of the closely divided chamber. For the most part, the Democrats running in conservative states will shun the convention to stump at home, while those from more liberal states, like convention keynote speaker Obama of Illinois, will bask in the reflected glow of the nominee from Massachusetts. In three southern states -- Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana -- the party's nomination is still in doubt.

Also absent from the Boston convention that begins Monday will be Senate candidates Inez Tenenbaum of South Carolina, Erskine Bowles of North Carolina, and Tony Knowles of Alaska, their campaign spokespersons said. Independent polls indicate that all three could win Senate seats in states where Kerry is a long shot.

Tenenbaum, state superintendent of education and South Carolina's leading vote-getter in two elections, plans to do an event with the state's convention delegates in Boston on Sunday but fly back to South Carolina Monday morning, campaign spokesman Adam Kovacevich said. Facing Republican Representative Jim DeMint in a battle to succeed Democrat Ernest ''Fritz" Hollings, who is retiring, Tenenbaum differs sharply with Kerry on several issues. She supports the Iraq war, the broad application of the death penalty, a constitutional ban on gay marriage, and a prohibition of late-term abortions.

''Not at all," her spokesman said when asked if she was trying to keep some distance between herself and Kerry. ''There are a lot of undecided voters in South Carolina, and we're trying to take advantage of every minute we have to talk to them," Kovacevich said. ''Next week, there are 10 different 'meet and greets' scheduled in South Carolina."

Similarly, former Clinton White House chief of staff Bowles this week kicked off a bus tour of North Carolina, his spokeswoman Susan Lagana said. Monday, he will be raising funds and in meetings in North Carolina, before resuming his bus tour on Wednesday and Thursday, she said. Recent polls show him ahead of Republican Representative Richard Burr in the race to succeed Kerry's vice presidential pick, John Edwards.

Knowles touts his independence from Kerry and the party. Not attending the convention ''was an easy decision," his spokesman, Matt McKenna, said. ''His time is better spent in Alaska with Alaskans." Knowles is expected to face Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who was appointed by her father, Frank Murkowski, to succeed him in 2002 after he was elected governor of a state that Bush carried by 31 points four years ago.

The Knowles campaign website says he ''will stand up for Alaska even when he has to take on his own party -- as he did again when he publicly criticized Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry for his opposition to opening [the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]" to oil drilling. Oil royalties are the principal source of revenue for Alaska's state government.

McKenna described his candidate as ''an independent, Alaska-first Democrat."

Not all Democratic Senate candidates from Republican-leaning states are skipping the convention.

Dan Mongiardo, a Kentucky state senator who is waging an uphill challenge to Republican Senator Jim Bunning, has a full slate of activities in Boston from Saturday until Wednesday morning, campaign spokesman Eric Niloff said. He will raise money at an event in Cambridge and use the convention ''to keep building momentum," Niloff said. A physician who opposes abortion in most circumstances, Mongiardo ''has Kentucky values that aren't always consistent with the party as a whole," said Niloff. Bush won Kentucky by 15 points in 2000.

Ken Salazar, attorney general of Colorado, a potential tossup state in the presidential race, will be in Boston Wednesday and Thursday. Described by his campaign spokesman Cody Wertz as a ''moderate, independent Democrat," Salazar is an overwhelming favorite to win the Senate nomination on Aug. 10, and recent polls showed him with a lead in a hypothetical matchup against either Republican primary candidate, beer magnate Pete Coors or former congressman Bob Schaffer, in the contest to succeed Republican Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell.