OXFORD — In a conversation months ago, Dave Dennis conceded Kirk Fordice was his inspiration, at least in part. Now that the finish line for party primaries is nearing, the Gulf Coast business leader’s challenge is to do what Fordice did — transform “experienced” into a cuss word.

Fordice, who served two terms as governor of Mississippi from 1992 until 2000, died in 2004 at the age of 70. He had a lifelong interest in politics, favoring small government and as little “intrusion” as possible on the private sector.

Where Dennis identifies with Fordice most strongly is that Fordice started his campaign as a complete unknown, at least in terms of public identity.

There are other similarities.

Fordice’s first attempt at courting voters to see things his way was when he decided 20 years ago that he could be effective as the state’s CEO. His background was in industry, specifically as a contractor with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as his major client. Trained as an engineer, Fordice was also national president of Associated General Contractors, the nation’s largest alliance of its type. He incorrectly believed state government was nothing more than a midsized corporation with a runaway board of directors (the Legislature).

Dennis’ background is similar. He is also what Texans call a “binisman,” owner of Specialty Contractors, a firm that has been successful working on hotel and other large projects across a wide area.

Speaking to the Mississippi Press Association recently, Dennis was even Fordice-esque in his comments on how hard it was to be a conscientious businessman — to remain in compliance with reams of regulations while competing against less scrupulous firms who skirt wage and employment eligibility considerations and are rarely bothered by government regulators when they do. As a board member of the Federal Reserve, Dennis is also an expert in monetary policy and economics.

Folks say it is Dennis’ opponent, Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant who “has it to lose” on Aug. 2. That’s due to name recognition Bryant has worked to develop and enhance.

If both men were put in a room and given a written test to measure their conservative principles, they’d achieve almost if not exactly the same score, yet their resumes are very different.

After working in law enforcement, Bryant was elected to the Legislature from the state’s foremost Republican haven, Madison County. While Bryant was a member of the House, Fordice tapped him for appointment as State Auditor, a job to which he was later elected before later seeking and winning the lieutenant governorship.

In those roles, Bryant has amassed a boatload of pro-business credentials — starting when he wrote the Capital Gains Tax Cut Act of 1994 while a freshman legislator.

Bryant can point to dollars recovered from corrupt officials while he was Auditor, to initiating a study of the cost of illegal immigration to Mississippi taxpayers and pushing other mainstays of conservatism.

His record is very public, very open. In fact, if Mississippi has a “transparent government” champion these days, it is Phil Bryant.

But as people of a certain age remember, Fordice had Republican opposition, too. As Bryant is the party candidate with experience this year, Pete Johnson wore more than one mantle in 1999. No one gave Fordice a chance against the more polished, more professional candidate who chose his words more carefully and whose family had a respectable pedigree in Mississippi politics.

Yet Fordice not only won the primary, he denied Democratic incumbent Ray Mabus a second term.

Resumes don’t win elections. The public’s expectation of effectiveness in office wins elections.

Voters listened to the speeches Fordice made and decided that even if his opponents were people who had good records — on paper — Fordice could get results. People supported him based on his potential, not his record.

The challenge, then, for Dennis is to cause voters to believe (1) what Bryant has been doing is insufficient and (2) that he can do.

Dennis, clearly an intelligent man and a person of character and integrity, will find the first hurdle easy. As the last federal elections showed, “career politician” is already a cuss word. Lots of incumbents were turned out by voters if for no other reason than “they’d been there long enough.”

The second hurdle is higher. It will take a lot of money for ads and a lot of speeches for Dennis to convince voters Bryant’s experience is a negative.

But from the start, he’s known it is not impossible. Kirk Fordice was an unknown outsider and conventional wisdom held that he had no chance.

Dave Dennis said he thinks about that a lot. Phil Bryant probably does, too.

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Charlie Mitchell is a Mississippi journalist. Write to him at Box 1, University, MS 38677, or e-mail cmitchell43@yahoo.com.