Sharp exchanges in 18th District debate

Medicare was Obamacare.”

That is a longstanding Republican complaint about the Affordable Care Act, which Mr. Lamb has said he wants to salvage and improve.

The health care overhaul did envision Medicare reductions, but largely by paring back some payments to insurers and providers, including those who don’t meet certain performance targets.

The night’s sharpest point of contention, however, involved the negative TV ads that are blanketing the airwaves.

Mr. Lamb characterized the attacks on him as “garbage. ... It’s like a comic-book version of a campaign. People are laughing at you, Rick.”

Mr. Lamb has been targeted with an onslaught of negative ads, paid for by outside conservative groups who support, but don’t answer to, the Saccone campaign.

But Mr. Saccone noted, correctly, that his own campaign “put only positive ads out,” all introductory spots about himself. By contrast, he said, Mr. Lamb’s “ads are all negative against me.”

Mr. Lamb’s campaign has aired an ad targeting Mr. Saccone for his spending habits as a state legislator. But Mr. Saccone may have gotten the last shot, during an exchange in which the candidates were asked to say something nice about each other.

Mr. Lamb praised Mr. Saccone for co-sponsoring a bill with Democratic state Rep. Dan Miller to restore driver’s licenses to certain former drug offenders. “I think it’s a great thing,” said Mr. Lamb, who noted that not having a license made it hard for former offenders to find work.

Mr. Saccone, meanwhile, said of his 33-year-old opponent “I like the fact that Conor’s young and idealistic.”

But a moment later the 60year-old representative added, “Of course, he doesn’t have a record.”

The special election in the 18th Congressional District race will be held March 13.