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Lunsford Ready to Launch Attack?
May 16, 2007
Steve Beshear had an unwelcome visitor at his Louisville news conference today, a staffer from the Lunsford campaign sporting a placard questioning Beshear's plans to fund programs he's promising.
The handwritten board hanging over the young Lunsford staffers' shoulders included the headline "Beshear's Gambling Bluffs". It included a list of programs and projects the Lunsford campaign says Beshear has promised without any guaranteed way to pay for them. Beshear has been the most outspoken supporter of a constitutional amendment allowing casino gambling in Kentucky. But some of his opponents, namely Lunsford, say there's no guarantee Kentucky voters will approve casinos and even if they do, the revenue from casinos won't come pouring into the state treasury until 2009 or 2010 at the earliest. Lunsford has also sent a flurry of releases to reporters, outlining questions about Beshear's promises. The implication is that Lunsford may be ready to attack the front running Beshear, perhaps breaking the pledge that most of the democratic candidates signed to play nice and not attack each other. Beshear says "we'll be ready to defend ourselves" if necessary. TV viewing this weekend could get interesting.
Posted by mark.hebert at May 16, 2007 11:51 PM
Comments
It appears to me that some folks need to define some of the terms they throw around. What is a negative ad and can a negative ad be proper? I see nothing wrong with one candidate pointing out how he/she differ with his/her opponent on issues , such as whether gambling will produce sufficient income to pay for certain programs. To me a negative ad is an ad which is either false or misleading or irrelevant. False and misleading are clear terms. By irrelevant I mean an accusation which paints the opponent in a negative light and is true, but it is not important to determining if that candidate is qualified to serve e.g. a minor indiscretion from the distant past. I believe that type of ad constitutes "politics of personal destruction," while pointing out relevant character flaws or actual differencs on issues is not.
Posted by: RickJohnson at May 17, 2007 06:57 PM
Shouldn't Lundergan pack his bags and get out anyway?
Posted by: p4p at May 17, 2007 04:59 PM
Lunsford personally attacked Beshear yesterday in Paducah campaign stop (Bill Bartleman-Paducah Sun), saying Beshear is 'deceiving' voters.
In light of what Lunsford did yesterday in Louisville and Paducah, and after getting all candidates to agree not to wage negative campaigns, KDP Chairman Jerry Lundergan needs to step up, show unbiased leadership and publicly hold Lunsford accountable.
If Lundergan remains silent, he should pack his bags and get out.
Democrats can avoid runoff and spend the next weeks and months uniting our party v. what we all know will be a false, negative, nasty, divisive campaign by Lunsford - just like he did against Congressman Ben Chandler in '03.
Reject Lunsford's negative campaign! Unite Democrats! Vote Beshear! Tuesday!
Posted by: Kingfish at May 17, 2007 12:21 PM
