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SALT LAKE CITY -- Attack ads signal that Republican race for U.S. Senate nomination is down to the home stretch.
Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater are going all out to win votes before next Tuesday's primary.
Their ads are all but directly attacking each other right now. It's a sign that time is running out -- and that the race is close.
KSL Newsradio's Doug Wright show was yet another forum for Bridgewater and Lee to outline their differences.
"I am running for the U.S. Senate to stop the insanity," Bridgewater said.
"I've come to believe our government's too big and too expensive," Lee said.
But lurking behind the issues is a rift over the latest round of broadcast ads.
A Lee commercial claims Bridgewater profited from government contracts: "Bridgewater supported huge Washington spending increases, made money from earmarks and the Obama stimulus bill," the ad says.
In response, Bridgewater countered on the radio.
"I can't believe Mike Lee is attacking Tim Bridgewater for being a businessman," the ad reads. "It reminded me of Ted Kennedy attacking Mitt Romney because of his business background."
During the debate on the Doug Wright show, the two sparred over this briefly.
"I think you are stretching the bounds in order to win political points," Bridgewater said.
"You can't say you didn't profit, didn't benefit from that money," Lee countered.
During a break, Lee defended his own EnergySolutions connection when Bridgewater confronted him further.
"What you're talking about is a government investment in a company not for service to the government, but because the government's handing it out," Lee said.
"And you differentiate that by saying you didn't receive -- I mean, it's a stretch only a lawyer could make," Bridgewater said.
The bottom line is, Lee is claiming that since Raser Technologies benefited from stimulus and earmarks, Bridgewater also benefited because he consulted for the company and is a stockholder.
Bridgewater in person and through his radio ad says it's just a cheap shot.
"It's a response to a literally $200,000 of out-of-state money poured into a campaign to defeat me," he said.
"My opponent is a good man who benefited from what I call corporate welfare, money taken from taxpayers and given to private business interests," Lee said.
KSL should get a snapshot of where this Senate race stands on Friday when KSL and the Deseret News get new, exclusive Dan Jones poll results.
In the meantime, the campaigning goes on.
E-mail: rpiatt@ksl.com
