Bruce Lunsford

On the most eventful day in the race in weeks, the candidates for Kentucky's U.S. Senate seat continue to jab at each other today in the wake of incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-Louisville) release of the first television ad of the general election campaign.

This afternoon, McConnell's campaign dispatched a retaliatory response to Lunsford's earlier critique of the ad.

The ad attacks Lunsford for his work in 1980, supporting a restructuring of Kentucky's gas tax system that tied tax rates to wholesale prices. The ad also accuses Lunsford of wanting to "pump taxpayers for even more," but bases that accusation on an article referencing Lunsford's support of the windfall profits tax on oil companies.

After Lunsford's campaign levelled a series of charges about McConnell's energy policy in response, the McConnell campaign questioned why the substance of the ad wasn't addressed.

"I have read the Lunsford campaign's response to our ad three times. Nowhere do they deny that Bruce Lunsford fought for an ever-increasing gas tax, which is remarkable," said McConnell's campaign manager, Justin Brasell, in an afternoon statement.

Minutes after the campaign of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) announced the launch of its first ad of the general election race, the campaign of the ad's target - Democratic nominee Bruce Lunsford, of Louisville - released a statement deriding the spot as a "ridiculous negative attack" and attempted to pin responsibility for the "energy crisis" on McConnell.

The McConnell ad, first aired Friday, attributes responsibility for Kentucky's gas tax - which adjusts according to the wholesale price of oil - to Lunsford's "lobbying" for that structure as a member of former Gov. John Y. Brown's administration in 1980
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"McConnell's ridiculous negative attack is nothing more than a desperate political smokescreen," said Lunsford's spokesperson, Allison Haley, in a statement.
While not explicitly addressing the charges of McConnell's ad beyond that sentiment, Lunsford's response threw the blame for high gas prices upon the incumbent McConnell and President Bush.

The ad war between U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) and his Democratic opponent, businessman Bruce Lunsford, of Louisville, kicked off in earnest this morning, when McConnell launched his first ad - a 30-second slam accusing Lunsford of contributing to higher gas taxes.

"Nearly 30 years ago, Bruce Lunsford lobbied for automatic gas tax increases," says the ad's narrator.

McConnell's campaign points to Lunsford's work in 1980 as a member of former Governor John Y. Brown's cabinet. Then, he was part of an effort to tie the rate of the gas tax in the state to the wholesale cost of gasoline - rather than set a flat rate per gallon.

Interestingly, the ad features footage of Lunsford speaking in Bowling Green and providing some explanation for the changing taxes on gasoline.

"We changed the way we tax gas in this state that gave us a budget that could grow," says Lunsford in the McConnell ad's sampled film.

After funding requested by U.S. Rep John Yarmuth (D-Louisville) for a new Veteran's Administration hospital was approved in a Senate subcommitee today, Yarmuth praised an unlikely ally on the other side of the aisle -Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville).

"This is great news," said Yarmuth in a statement. "I was happy to have secured funding in the House for a new VA hospital in Louisville, and with the Senate now on board, we can confidently say that Louisville's veterans will have a new, state-of-the-art hospital very soon. I thank Senator McConnell for working with me to make sure that the veterans in our community get the care and treatment they deserve."

$75 million in funding for a hospital in Louisville - hometown to both Yarmuth and McConnell - was approved by the U.S. Senate subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, upon which McConnell sits.

Yarmuth had initially secured $45 million for the project in the House, but the amount passed by the Senate was raised to "maximum the VA can obligate in 2009," according to a release from McConnell's Senate office.

The principal candidates in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race took to differing media outlets in the past two days to push their message.

Louisville businessman and Democratic nominee Bruce Lunsford participated in a "liveblogging" session and wrote a "diary" on the liberal political blog DailyKos yesterday, while his opponent, incumbent U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville), made an appearence this morning on the Fox & Friends television program on the Fox News network.

McConnell's three-and-a-half minute spot on the morning program focused exclusively on energy policy, with McConnell continuing his call for increased domestic oil exploration and suggesting that a moratorium on oil shale exploriation be lifted.

As today's filing deadline for the second fundraising quarter passes, PolitickerKY.com has provided updates as numbers from candidates across the state become available. Below are links to our complete coverage, arranged by races.

US Senate:

Lunsford brings in $600K; $1.3M on hand

$3 million quarter and $9 million on hand for McConnell 

KY-1:

Whitfield stays over $1 million into 3Q

KY-2:

Drastically different financial pictures in KY-2 as Guthrie holds large cash-on-hand advantage 

Democratic Senate nominee Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville): Politicker photo

After a second quarter fundraising period split in half by the May 20 Democratic primary, U.S. Senate candidate and multi-millionaire businessman Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville) will report $600K in contributions and $1.3 million on hand. Lunsford's 2Q receipts will total just short of $3.1 million, with $2.5 million of that amount coming from Lunsford's own pocket.

The numbers provide a contrast to last week's news from the camp of Lunsford's opponent, U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville). Then, McConnell touted $9 million on hand and a $3 million second quarter.

Though official FEC reports are not yet available, if reports from both side are accurate, McConnell now holds $7.7 million more than Lunsford in cash-on-hand and outraised Lunsford by $2.4 million in the second quarter.

Though national Democrats tout U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Louisville) potential vulnerability, how many Democratic U.S. senators are actually putting their money where their mouths are by contributing to his Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville)? And how many have been to Kentucky to support his campaign?

When Republicans wanted to defeat then Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) in 2004, even then-U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) campaigned for Daschle's challenger, John Thune (R-S.D.). So given how anxious Democrats are to see McConnell defeated, where are the U.S. Senators from neighboring states like Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Jim Webb (D-Va.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) or even Barack Obama (D-Ill.)?

LOUISVILLE -- Since the commencement of the general election race for Kentucky's U.S. Senate seat, the campaign of incumbent U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) suggested on several occasions that opponent Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville) was embarking on out-of-state trips. This Monday, McConnell's camp posted a video on its blog of a plane taking off - suggesting it was carrying Lunsford to Chicago for a weekend trip.

Today, Lunsford rejected the assertion that he was not fully embracing the campaign trail when asked how much time he was spending in the state.

"I've spent it all," Lunsford told PolitickerKY.com during his campaign appearance working at Butler High School today. "I've taken two Sundays off. It was the holiday weekend. If there were anything politically scheduled, I would have spent it in the state."

Lunsford said the past week had found him throughout the state, naming Lexington, Grayson, Prestonburg, and Ashland among the stops he had made.

"That's going to be our week every week until the finish line," Lunsford added.