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Posted on 01/30/2004 9:48:08 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
A new television ad from Republican congressional candidate Alice Forgy Kerr criticizes her opponent by name for the first time.
The commercial, which began airing yesterday, goes after Ben Chandler's stances on President Bush's tax cuts, a pledge not to raise taxes and the issue of drivers licenses for illegal aliens -- three carryover issues from Chandler's bid for governor last fall.
The candidates are just now turning up the volume in the campaign, which has less than three weeks until the Feb. 17 special election. Chandler and Kerr are vying to fill the 6th Congressional District seat vacated by Gov. Ernie Fletcher.
Chandler and Kerr will face off Saturday in their first debate, and both candidates are bringing Congressional heavyweights to Kentucky in the next few days to help campaign. In addition, a national business group has sent out mail on Kerr's behalf.
Kerr's commercial is the first spot by either candidate that mentions and criticizes the other. But the commercial misrepresents one of Chandler's positions.
"Only one candidate attacked tax cuts last fall, but supports them now ... " Kerr says in the new ad.
During the governor's race Chandler criticized President Bush's tax cuts for helping "the wrong people." Chandler argued the cuts mostly affect wealthy Americans and "putting more money in the hands of the working class" would have helped the economy more.
While he has softened his rhetoric from last summer when he railed against the "Bush-Fletcher economy" Chandler maintains that he still opposes Bush's tax cuts.
Kerr also says Chandler has "called a no new tax pledge 'irresponsible' but signs the pledge now."
In an October debate on Kentucky Educational Television Chandler did say it would be "irresponsible" to pledge not to raise taxes.
Chandler, however, has tried to clarify his position, saying he was referring to state officials, who by the Kentucky constitution cannot allow the budget to run a deficit. Federal officials, he reasons, can lower taxes without having to worry about balancing the budget each year.
Kerr had not signed the tax pledge for most of her five years in the state senate. She signed it in November. "I had been looking at that for quite some time," Kerr said in an interview.
Kerr's final point in the ad says Chandler "twice said he supported giving drivers' licenses to illegal aliens, then said he was 'confused.'"
Chandler made those comments in a governor's race debate and repeated them to reporters afterward. Later, Chandler's campaign manager Mark Nickolas, who is also running his congressional campaign, said Chandler got confused and thought the question was about legal immigrants.
"This is clear that this is a sad smear attempt by an increasingly desperate campaign," Jason Sauer, spokesman for Chandler's campaign, said of the ad.
Billy Piper, Kerr's campaign manager, said the plan all along had been to use the first few weeks of ads to introduce Kerr to the voters before "contrasting" her with Chandler.
Meanwhile, the Washington-based U.S. Chamber of Commerce has mailed fliers that tout Kerr to likely voters and particularly to the business community.
The organization, loosely the parent organization of the Kentucky and Lexington-area chambers, typically endorses candidates "in races we believe to be the most competitive and where there is a difference between candidates," said Bill Miller, the chamber's political director.
In this case, Miller said the national group decided Kerr was more business-friendly. The group balked at Chandler because of his position on Bush's tax cuts and because as attorney general, he sued national pharmaceutical companies.
Last year, Chandler filed a suit alleging that some companies overcharge on prescription drugs.
The group, which will officially endorse Kerr on Monday in Nicholasville, has endorsed Democrats in the past, Miller said. Campaign trail
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• Today, Chandler, will campaign with Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., a top Democrat in Congress, at events at Eastern Kentucky University at 10 a.m., the University of Kentucky at 2 p.m. and later at a Frankfort fund-raiser.
• Saturday at 6 p.m., Chandler and Kerr will appear on WKYT Channel 27 for a live, one-hour debate.
• Tuesday, Kerr will host House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., at a fund-raiser event at 11:35 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency in Lexington.
The NRCC is also airing a new ad criticizing Chandler's past campaign tactics as negative and dishonest...apparently this is to pre-empt the fact that Chandler and the DCCC have now also started airing negative ads against Kerr.
....and, as usual, the Lexington Herald-MisLeader shall start carrying water (like spiking stories, unfavorable to Chandler, play-up any perceived negatives of Kerr), the typical LHL (Liberal) behavior...we have seen these many years.
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