Democratic Senate debate reveals divides and renews acrimony (Part 2)

LEXINGTON - Once the focus of Monday's Democratic Senate debate shifted from issues to the state of the race, some of the ire raised earlier in the campaign re-emerged in earnest.

Discussion inevitably turned towards the ad released by the campaign of Louisville businessman Greg Fischer that revived charges of past business impropriety against front-running Democrat and Louisville businessman, Bruce Lunsford.

Fischer's ad drew ire from several prominent Kentucky Democrats, including U.S. Congressman John Yarmuth (D-Louisville) and Lieutenant Governor Daniel Mongiardo (D-Hazard). Those two were signatories on a letter asking Fischer to stop running the "attack" ads.

During Monday's debate, Fischer defended his decision to run the ad and to target Lunsford's history.

"To me, a Democratic primary is an open competition. We are all up here applying for a job to be your next United States senator. So, I think references should be discussed," said Fischer. "My opponent is running as if he doesn't have a past that he wants to discuss."

Fischer also referenced another part of Lunsford's past - his 2003 endorsement of Republican gubernatorial candidate Ernie Fletcher, after Lunsford quit the Democratic primary field shortly before election day.

"In his moment of truth when he was running against Democrat Ben Chandler, he quit four days before the race and endorsed Republican Ernie Fletcher," said Fischer.

"You're not going to have to worry about me flipping on Democratic principles," he added.

Lunsford responded by noting he apologized for this 2003 endorsement to Democrats and claimed he had since run a clean race for Governor in 2007.

"I am the first one to say ‘I made a mistake.' And I apologized," said Lunsford.

Will the "realest" Democrat please stand up?

Turning the discussion back to Fischer, Lunsford seemed to question whether his opponent was a "real Democrat" by way of a comparison between the amount of money each candidate had donated to Democrats in the past.

"What is a real democrat? A real Democrat is someone who is there most of the time and believes in Democratic principles," said Lunsford. "Before I entered this race, thinking I'd never run again, I'd given $120,000 to Democrats over the years."

Turning to stare at Fischer, who stood two podiums to his left, Lunsford asked "Mr. Fischer, do you know how much you'd given before you entered the senate race?"

After briefly pausing while Fischer met his gaze, Lunsford answered his own question.

"I happen to know - he'd given four thousand," said Lunsford.

He then claimed Fischer had not financially supported Democrats John Yarmuth or Jack Conway in their bids to unseat Republican incumbent Anne Northup in Kentucky's 3rd Congressional District.

According to FEC records, Fischer did not contribute to any 3rd District candidates during the 2002 Northup-Conway contest nor the 2006 Northup-Yarmuth race. He did donate to Northup during her 2000 and 1998 campaigns, while giving to Yarmuth just last year.

Lunsford contributed to both the Democrat Yarmuth and the Republican Northup in the same week during the 2006 campaign between the two, while he only donated to Conway in that district in 2002. Like Fischer, Lunsford also donated funds to an incumbent Yarmuth in 2007.

After Lunsford's shot at Fischer, one of the debate panelists quickly asked Lunsford how much he had given to Republicans, to which Lunsford responded that "about ten percent" of his donations in the last ten years went to the GOP.

"I've run companies, I've had to worry about employees - I think I have made decisions that were correct for them," said Lunsford.

In a rebuttal, Fischer kept the discourse going.

"I've given a total of $800 to GOP throughout my lifetime versus approximately $25,000 for Democrats," said Fischer. "Bruce has given tens of thousands of dollars to Republicans, including the Republican Senate Campaign committee and even the guy he wants to run against now, Mitch McConnell, so I find his criticism a little disingenuous."

And, back to Lunsford, who denied Fischer's charge.

"This is another example of distortion. I haven't given tens of thousands to Republicans and in fact it has been just the opposite," said Lunsford. "Mr. Fischer has a memory of convenience here that he had only given 4,000 before he decided...to run for Senate."

Lunsford's past contributions to Republicans have already been an issue in the campaign. On April 1, the Fischer campaign fired off a release claiming Lunsford had contributed "$58,350 to Republican candidates and organizations since 1990."

Moving on?

Regardless of the numbers, Lunsford ultimately said he wanted to focus on November.

"I don't really have anything to hide from, and where I've made mistakes, I've stepped up, and said ‘I've made a mistake here,'" said Lunsford. "You admit your mistakes and move on. This is a bigger issue here - this is about Mitch McConnell."

For his part, Fischer touted his recent endorsements from current and former elected officials as evidence of his Democratic legitimacy.

"Prominent Democrats all over Kentucky who've known me for a long time have seen me as a person of character that they can trust as their next United States Senator," said Fischer. "They feel comfortable that we are going to do what we say we are going to do for the good of the Democratic Party."

Meanwhile, the other candidates in the field seemed less than impressed with the exchanges between the two most visible candidates.

"I would also like to say issues get lost in shuffle when we are squabbling about who gave how much money to which party and who has raised how much money," said James Rich, a warehouse and convenience store worker from Campbellsville.

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• Democratic Senate Debate reveals divides and renews acrimony (part 1)