(LEX 18) - — The weekend's annual Fancy Farm picnic in Western Ky. traditionally serves as the launching pad for Kentucky's fall campaign season. The stakes are high and heckling partisans will serve as a noisy backdrop.
One of the most notable partisan races is the race between Daniel Cameron and Greg Stumbo for Attorney General.
Cameron has returned to Kentucky after working in DC with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to run for his dream job.
"I wanted to keep being a meaningful contributor around that conversation. From my judgment, the best place to do that is in the Attorney General's office," Cameron told LEX 18's Conroy Delouche during an interview.
What Cameron lacks in political experience, he says he makes up for from his work with Senator McConnell.
"I want to take that experience of working with our federal partners in the law enforcement community, and work with with our state partners, to really form synergies in our law enforcement community to make sure we can get a handle on this drug epidemic over the next decade," said Cameron.
Former House Speaker Greg Stumbo had held this post before from 2003 until 2007.
"I always felt like I've got unfinished business. I promised the people of Kentucky I'd do something about it. We did something about it, we did something significant about it. But I want to finish that. I want to finish my mission," says Stumbo.
He says part of that mission is in the courtroom battling drug companies.
The issues are important, but this race has already jumped into the spotlight with a simple question in a recent ad released by Daniel Cameron.
"Who is Greg Stumbo?"
Stumbo says the attacks are false.
"They've been out there for 30 years. You know, my political opponents always try to use them. They can't produce any evidence to that affect. I tell them, well produce a court order that ever shows I was ever delinquent in child support. Yes, I had to pay child support. A lot of people in Kentucky do. If I were delinquent, they would've put me in jail. There would be a court order somewhere saying that. There's not one," Stumbo explained.
Stumbo went on to call Cameron a desperate candidate who doesn't have a resume. Cameron, in turn, criticized Stumbo's decision to seek the office of Lieutenant Governor instead of re-election to the AG's office in 2007.
"I've often said that AG for him does not mean 'Attorney General.' It's meant 'Aspiring Governor.' I think you'd find more of that with Greg Stumbo. For me, this is the job to have, and it's the job to have over the next four years especially," said Cameron.
