Insult Time, Face to Face, in Campaign's Debates

[Elmore Furth]

I do love full contact politics.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 7, 2010
Filed at 3:45 p.m. ET


WASHINGTON (AP) — "That's a lie. You know that's a lie. I never said it."

That was Republican Linda McMahon going after Democrat Richard Blumenthal this week as the Connecticut Senate rivals shared a debate stage. Afterward, he insisted she was the one playing "fast and loose with the facts."

Across the country, in California, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman pointedly blamed Democrat Jerry Brown for the disclosure that she had employed an illegal immigrant housekeeper.

Candidates have been slinging mud from afar for months, their insults filling TV ads and peppering speeches. Now, in the campaign's final weeks, they're meeting up close in debate — in many cases for the only time — and getting right in each other's faces.



Insult Time, Face to Face, in Campaign's Debates