challenges of competing in the political arena. He lobbied the General Assembly to pass a multi-bank holding company bill allowing banking companies to own more than one Kentucky bank. The bill passed in 1984. Democratic primary of 1987 In April 1985, Wilkinson formed a campaign committee in advance of the 1987 gubernatorial election. Relatively unknown statewide, Wilkinson was the first candidate to enter the race. The Democratic primary field eventually grew to include two previous Kentucky governors, John Y. Brown Jr. and Julian Carroll; sitting Lieutenant Governor Steve Beshear, who would later win two terms as governor in 2007 and 2011; and Grady Stumbo, cabinet secretary for Governor Martha Layne Collins. Early in the race, Brown was the clear-cut favorite, while Wilkinson was picked to finish fifth. Wilkinson financed his own campaign and campaign manager Danny Briscoe suggested that he hire a campaign consultant to reach out to the state's large concentration of undecided voters. After a few interviews, Wilkinson hired a then-unknown political consultant named James Carville; Carville later went on to chair Bill Clinton's successful presidential campaign in 1992. Beshear, considered the second strongest candidate in the primary race, spent much of the campaign attacking Brown, and Brown spent time and resources responding to Beshear's attacks. Meanwhile, Wilkinson attacked all of his opponents in the race as political insiders while touting his own rise from poverty to financial success. He called the incentive package that sitting governor Martha Layne Collins had offered to lure a Toyota manufacturing plant to the state "a massive mistake and terrible deal" that had made Kentucky "an international laughingstock". He also claimed that both Brown and Beshear would raise taxes and proposed a state lottery, which he claimed would generate $70 million annually for the state's coffers, as an alternative to higher taxes. The proposal proved particularly popular in Northern Kentucky, where residents routinely traveled to neighboring Ohio to play that state's lottery. Wilkinson also advocated for wholesale education reform, stating that Kentucky's children "don't have a learning problem; they've got a schooling problem." Two-time former governor A. B. "Happy" Chandler gave Wilkinson's campaign further credibility with his endorsement. In late April, Brown still held a 20 percentage point lead in public opinion polling. However, as Beshear began to slip in the polls, Wilkinson moved up. By Memorial Day weekend, he was polling second among the candidates. Brown largely ignored Wilkinson until a