FRANKFORT — There’s something about this U.S. Senate race and Fancy Farm that brings out the silly in the candidates. Last year, Democrat Jack Conway tried to prove he was a tough guy. (He used a slightly different expression.) This year it was Republican Rand Paul’s turn, although his gaffe didn’t come until he’d actually left Fancy Farm.

Paul told Sean Hannity he feared some of the rowdies might shower him with beer.  But Fancy Farm is a dry jurisdiction, the picnic is sponsored by St. Jerome’s Parish and alcohol isn’t sold. So just as Conway last year offended parishioners and organizers and later had to apologize, Paul did the same this year.

Otherwise it was a mundane Fancy Farm – at least the political speeches were. Fancy Farm, the experience, is never mundane. It’s always fun. But this year’s speeches were clearly written by both Senate candidates to avoid mistakes. Conway got the better of the exchange with his play on Paul’s earlier comment on the Gulf oil spill: “accidents happen.” He also got off the best line of the day when he said that was Sen. Mitch McConnell’s explanation to the Republican National Committee for Paul’s convincing win over McConnell’s candidate, Trey Grayson.

Bill Goodman of KET had the best take on Paul’s speech, which began with a rant about the size of the U.S. tax code. Goodman said it sounded as though Paul “began his speech in the middle.” The speech got better but was hardly a barn-burner.

Paul was hit with yet another negative story, a report on GQ Magazine’s website that he was involved in a college hazing in which a co-ed was blindfolded, pressured to smoke marijuana, and ordered to bow down to a fictional god, “Aqua-Buddha.” But like Paul’s gaffes after the primary, there was no immediate indication it’s going to fatally sabotage his campaign. Wednesday in Republican Laurel County, people I talked to blew it off as the work of Conway’s campaign and the “liberal media.”

Meanwhile, Conway isn’t very visible on the campaign trail. Supporters say he’s building a grassroots network and raising money, but it looks as if he thinks he can wait while the press follows the various stories on Paul. He may also be reacting to the way he pulled out a narrow win in the primary when he pummeled his opponent with negative ads late in the campaign. But Paul won’t lack cash to respond as Daniel Mongiardo did. And Conway might want to talk to those who worked on Grayson’s campaign. They tried to portray Paul as “kooky” with “weird ideas” but the Paul campaign was extremely adept at responding, usually the next day. Paul, on the other hand, will continue to hammer Conway with President Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, all very unpopular in Kentucky — including with a lot of Democrats and independents as well as Republicans.

At some point, Conway has to offer voters a reason to elect him beyond the fact that he’s not Rand Paul. He needs to allay concerns in rural Kentucky that he is too liberal and doesn’t fully understand their problems or values. If he reads this, Conway is likely to react with frustration because Paul speaks exclusively about national issues, rarely talking about Kentucky and often displaying a surprising lack of familiarity with parts of Kentucky.

But the mood is favorable to Paul. The election may be more a referendum on Obama than a contest between Conway and Paul. Conway can’t help that, but he’s got to do something to combat it if he’s to win.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. He may be contacted by email at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.