In a message to supporters, Republican Brooks Wicker is attacking The Louisville Courier-Journal editorial board for endorsing Democratic incumbent John Yarmuth in Kentucky's Third Congressional District race.The newspaper gave Yarmuth the nod for a fourth term Sunday, citing his defense of President Obama’s health care overhaul, knowledge of the issues and public criticisms of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. It goes on to argue that Wicker is a "Tea Party enthusiast" who has made generalities when talking about solutions to the country’s problems.Wicker campaign manager Michael Wray says the editorial board made its decision without interviewing his candidate and overlooked the GOP challengers’ 5-point plan for economic recovery."We did not get one invitation—not one—from the editorial board," he says. "The editorial board just didn’t do its due diligence in informing the voters. They based it on assumptions. Their endorsement was not surprising, but the process that they went through to get to their conclusion was astounding."A Yarmuth campaign spokesman says the newspaper did not interview the congressman for the fall election either. The last time Yarmuth sat down with the editorial board was in July, and that interview focused mostly on the Affordable Care Act.For most of the campaign, Wicker has struggled to gain attention in what observers consider a long shot bid, and he has trailed Yarmuth in fundraising with abysmal totals. According to the Federal Election Commission, Wicker has not yet turned in his third quarter campaign finance report.But Wray also complained that the C-J did not include the congressional contest in its latest round of polling to draw accurate conclusions about the race."I personally think that it’s because Brooks is closing in on the congressman," he says. "This is a Democratic heavy district, but Brooks’s message response is about personal responsibility, fiscal responsibility and correcting the problems that we have, most of which John Yarmuth has been a part of."
