Editing Jim Bunning (section)

===First Senate term===
In 1998, [[Senate Minority Whip]] [[Wendell Ford]] decided to retire after 24 years in the Senate—at the time, the longest term in Kentucky history (a record later surpassed by Mitch McConnell). Bunning won the Republican nomination for the seat, and faced fellow Congressman [[Scotty Baesler]], a Democrat from the [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]]-based 6th District, in the general election.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/09/29/kentucky.senate/ |title=A neck-and-neck Senate race in Kentucky – September 29, 1998 |publisher=Cnn.com |date=September 29, 1998 |access-date=May 28, 2017}}</ref> Bunning defeated Baesler by just over half a percentage point. The race was very close; Bunning only won by swamping Baesler in the 4th by a margin that Baesler couldn't make up in the rest of the state (Baesler barely won the 6th).<ref>{{cite news|author=PHILIP SHENON|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/05/us/1998-elections-states-kentucky-democrat-loser-senate-race-forgoes-recount.html |title=THE 1998 ELECTIONS: THE STATES – KENTUCKY; Democrat, Loser in Senate Race, Forgoes Recount – The New York Times |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 5, 1998 |access-date=May 28, 2017}}</ref>

Bunning was one of the Senate's most conservative members, gaining high marks from several conservative interest groups. He was ranked by ''[[National Journal]]'' as the second-most conservative United States Senator in their March 2007 conservative/liberal rankings, after Sen. [[Jim DeMint]] (R-SC).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://politicalarithmetik.blogspot.com/2007/03/national-journal-2006.html |title=Political Arithmetik: National Journal 2006 Liberal/Conservative Scores |publisher=Politicalarithmetik.blogspot.com |date=March 5, 2007 |access-date=August 29, 2010}}</ref>

Among the bills that Bunning sponsored is the [[Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004|Bunning-Bereuter-Blumenauer Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna39084033 |title=The Exit Interviews: Sen. Jim Bunning – politics – The Exit Interviews |publisher=NBC News |date=September 16, 2010 |access-date=May 28, 2017}}</ref>