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Political scientist Kendra Stewart at Eastern Kentucky University said Kentucky voters are interested largely in the same issues as their counterparts across the country -- the economy, fuel prices, health care and Iraq. Kentuckians struggle with joblessness, especially in the impoverished mountain communities in the eastern half of the state. That population is also hit hardest by the price of gasoline, and more likely be without health care benefits.

Steve Earl, a union representative for the United Mine Workers of America, is convinced that the economy is the overriding issue, and that voters will make their decision based on who they think is best able to bring change.

''People are struggling across the state,'' he said.

Economic policy and energy policy are intertwined in Kentucky, where the coal mining industry employees 21,000, according to the National Mining Association.

Both Obama and Clinton have rallied environmentally-minded voters in other states with their promises to develop windmills, solar power and other renewable energy sources and order mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases from power plants to counter global warming.

It's a stance that would seem to target coal, which produces half the country's electricity but also nearly 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas, each year.

Instead, ''clean coal'' -- which environmentalists say is a contradiction -- has become the mantra of both candidates.

On fuel prices, Clinton has advocated a summer gas tax holiday -- an idea Obama opposes and one that has been widely panned by a range of influential economists.

With two large military installations -- Fort Campbell and Fort Knox -- Kentucky also has a big stake in the war in Iraq, but the issue may not be huge in the state's primary, Stewart said. Clinton and Obama have taken similar stands, each calling for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

Stewart said Clinton's support among churchgoers in other states bodes well for her in Kentucky. Clinton has done especially well among Catholic voters, which, Stewart said, could help her offset Obama's support among blacks in Louisville, one of the state's strongest Catholic communities.

One of the things that make Kentucky politics exciting, Stewart said, is its unpredictability.

''Kentucky's so unique since we don't have a solid identity,'' she said. ''We aren't for sure a southern state, and we're not a midwestern state. So, at times, it can be difficult to make these generalizations.''

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