It's the Bumper Sticker, Stupid.

Republicans have been telling Sen. Norma Champion's campaign not to talk to me because they believe I support her opponent, Democrat Doug Harpool, according to a Champion aide.

And it turns out it all comes back to the bumper sticker on my desk during the blog promo.

It's a lesson in politics and journalism that perception, even a misinformed or misinterpreted one, can become reality.

I'm just back from the Greene County Medical Society Legislative Candidate Forum where more than a dozen local candidates turned out to bat around the issue of Medicaid fraud.

At the conclusion of the forum, I approached Champion's campaign aide Mike Barnett about setting up an interview with the Senator about her re-election race. We've been trying to set an interview up for some time. Barnett said Champion's schedule had been jam-packed and that he was meaning to get back to me. But as we got further into the conversation, he told me the flat out truth.

"A lot of people are telling us not to talk to you because of the Harpool sticker you have on your desk that's on TV about the blog, and about some of the comments that have been made on your blog," Barnett said. "Quite a bit of Republicans are telling us that."

At least now I know.

They do have a point. I did have a Harpool sticker on my desk that was in the background of a shot used to promote the KY3 political blog. Never thought anything of it. On the other side of my desk, I had stickers for Jim Talent, Claire McCaskill, Jo Ann Emerson and Jay Nixon (but they weren't in the shot). I've said before it is the way I decorate my desk. I'm open to taking stickers from any candidate of any party. But I understand how seeing one sticker could cause a perception problem. Lesson learned.

I can't do much more than say I'm a political junkie who loves politics and the buttons, stickers, signs and flags that come with it. And yes, I love covering these legislative races. But they become pretty tough to cover fairly and objectively when one side won't talk to you.

I explained to Barnett that I was just trying to do my job and he pledged to work with me in setting up an interview with Sen. Champion over the next few weeks. I hope we can work it out.

Barnett also informed me that the Champion campaign would not be accepting our invitation to hold a District 30 Senate debate at KY3. "She's going around talking to lots of forums. We feel like the people know her and know what she has done. We think a debate would just be a chance for the other side to be negative," Barnett said.

I also asked Barnett to work on getting me a Champion bumper sticker for my desk. Meanwhile, I'll continue to work to cover the 30th District Senate race to the best of my ability.