Wicker to Yarmuth: Debate Me

Republican congressional candidate Brooks Wicker wants Democratic incumbent John Yarmuth to debate him instead of challenging Senator Mitch McConnell.Recently, Yarmuth wrote McConnell a scathing letter accusing the GOP leader of misleading constituents about President Obama's health care law. The congressman re-issued a call for McConnell to meet him in a public forum on the issue, but the Senator's office has yet to respond.Wicker says Yarmuth is trying to make McConnell an issues and is neglecting his own re-election campaign, adding the incumbent owes voters in Kentucky's 3rd congressional district a chance to contrast their views in this year’s race."The issues that are important in this race are issues that are related to the economy, tax policy, energy policy and all of those issues he has a very weak record on and I think should he decide to debate me, he wouldn’t look very good because we would be bringing his record out,” he says. Yarmuth says he and Wicker will have ample opportunity to discuss their differences publicly, but that McConnell’s misinformation is having a bigger impact on his constituents than Wicker."He hasn’t made—as far as I know—dishonest claims about the Affordable Care Act in the paper. And again, claims that I think that have adversely affected many Louisvillians, particularly small businesses who could take advantage of provisions in the law but I think don’t believe any are in there due to misrepresentations that Senator McConnell and others have made about it,” he says.Wicker is running unopposed in the GOP primary for Congress.