Lamar Alexander's new rule: Come out shooting

photo Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., left, speaks during a U.S. Senate candidate forum with Democrat Gordon Ball, right, on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, in Cookeville, Tenn.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander on Thursday added a new rule to his "Little Plaid Book" of 311 rules about running for office.

Rule No. 312: Catch your opponent flatfooted in your only joint -- and nontelevised -- campaign appearance.

In an hourlong forum put on by the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation leadership, the 74-year-old two-term senator fired a barrage of stinging barbs at Ball, 65, a successful Knoxville trial lawyer.

"If you're a cocaine smuggler, he's the one to hire," Alexander said. "One difference between my opponent and me is I made my money being a capitalist; he made his money suing capitalists."

He also charged that Ball would be "one more vote for the Obama agenda" and accused him of plagiarism after his campaign lifted talking points verbatim from sitting Democratic senators' websites.

Initially flustered, Ball complained, "I thought we weren't going to talk about each other. I thought we were going to talk about issues."

But Ball quickly recovered his poise and began firing back.

"If you want to change what's gone on under my opponent's watch in this country, you've got to change the people in Washington," Ball said.

It was two men's only scheduled public encounter in the Nov. 4 election. Ball pressed for a series of debates, but Alexander refused. Early voting began Wednesday and continues through Oct. 30.

Farm Bureau officials had said the forum at Tennessee Tech wasn't intended to be a debate, but an opportunity for the candidates to discuss their stances on economic, budgetary and regulatory issues of importance to rural Tennessee.

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But the charges and counter-charges soon flew.

After Alexander charged that he would vote to keep Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in power, Ball riposted: "If gridlock is Harry Reid, then why did my opponent vote for Obama and Reid 62 percent of the time?"

Ball said he is a moderate Democrat who was attacked in his own party primary as too conservative. He pledged he wouldn't vote for Reid as leader if he goes to Washington.

Not good enough, Alexander scoffed, saying Ball and Reid would support many of the same issues. The election is "about one more vote for the Obama agenda or one more vote for a new Republican majority," Alexander said.

Stung by Alexander's comments about once representing a cocaine smuggler, Ball charged that Alexander in a lengthy public career made millions of dollars while holding office. He later pointed out to reporters how as governor in the 1980s, Alexander turned a small investment in Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America into a personal bonanza.

Alexander sought in his opening statement to inoculate himself against such charges, saying he became financially successful after leaving office from having co-founded a major, for-profit child care company that was publicly traded before it merged with another firm.

The senator accused Ball of favoring abortion rights and backing "more restrictions on guns," earning Ball a "F" rating from the powerful National Rifle Association. Alexander said he has fought to protect right-to-work laws, while Ball was endorsed by labor.

Ball described growing up as a "moonshiner's son" in a one-bedroom trailer in Cocke County, where there was a shotgun in "every room." He said he sleeps with a Glock revolver. He argued the NRA gave him the "F" because there is a "D" by his name -- as in "Democrat."

Ball has said he favors reasonable restrictions to ensure the mentally ill cannot purchase firearms.

The two battled over illegal immigration, each accusing the other of supporting "amnesty." Alexander reminded Farm Bureau members that a much-criticized Senate-passed bill he voted for was a measure they urged him to back.

The bill, which House GOP leaders never brought up for a vote, would have allowed immigrants in the U.S. illegally to apply for green cards and to work. Alexander said the bill would identify illegal immigrants, make them pay a fine and taxes and, if they had no felonies on their records, allow them to stay in the U.S.

Ball's position was much the same, but he charged the bill Alexander supported didn't put illegal immigrants at the "back of the line" for U.S. citizenship, while his does. Alexander said his favored bill does indeed do that, and charged that Ball's stance wouldn't require them to pay fines.

After Alexander slammed Ball as a supporter of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, Ball said, "I believe everyone in this country has a right to health care. Mr. Alexander thinks it's a privilege. I believe in the minimum wage. ... My opponent would abolish the minimum wage."

Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550.

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