HALLSVILLE - Since entering the closely watched Ninth Congressional District race, Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer is used to having his words and his actions dissected.

Luetkemeyer	Baker

"I have to apologize for all the folks here this afternoon. They seem to follow us around wherever we go," said Luetkemeyer, referring to a gaggle of reporters covering the event at the Hallsville Community Center.

The paths of Luetkemeyer and his Democratic rival, state Rep. Judy Baker, converged at a forum sponsored by the Hallsville Chamber of Commerce. It was one of the first times both candidates appeared together at a forum since winning their respective primaries for the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, R-Mo. Libertarian Tamara Millay, a St. Louis County resident, is also running for the seat.

The Hallsville meeting came as relations between the two campaigns appear frosty at best. Both have unleashed negative ads about taxation. And the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is also running negative TV ads against Luetkemeyer on Social Security.

The two candidates remained relatively civil and on message yesterday, promoting their personal and professional backgrounds and core issues.

Luetkemeyer focused particularly on energy production, which he calls the most important matter of the campaign.

"I think that, at the end of the day, if you look at the big spectrum of things, really, the major problem we see right now with the inflationary trend in our economy is due to the high prices of oil," said Luetkemeyer, who, among other things, advocated more drilling off the shores of the United States. "I think you can see in the first part of August, when the president came out and said we will support drilling offshore, immediately thereafter the price of oil went down and kept going down."

Baker covered a variety of topics, such as veterans’ health-care coverage, the uncertain economic situation and expanding alternative energy sources. One theme that Baker sought to highlight was the acute anxiety she said she’s witnessed throughout the 25-county district.

"Everywhere I’ve been going, from Miller County up through Boone County to Adair County to Scotland County, … I hear it everywhere I go, that we need change," Baker said. "I hear it in Missouri, I hear it in America, I hear the anxiety of the constituents that I’ve talked to, the people that I’ve talked to every single day. Missouri wants change. But it not only wants it - it needs it."

Both candidates also held separate events yesterday. Baker unveiled a proposed tax credit for manufacturers at B & K Manufacturing Inc.in Centralia; Luetkemeyer announced at his Columbia headquarters a coalition of female supporters.

One aspect of Baker’s five-pronged tax-credit proposal would allow a $1,500 tax credit per employee to businesses that create manufacturing jobs paying a "living wage."

"We will pay for this proposal by cracking down on big corporations that use unethical bookkeeping to artificially inflate their losses by driving up prices in foreign countries and bringing tax subsidies on top of that when they bring the product back here to sell," she said.

Luetkemeyer told reporters that he had not seen Baker’s proposal but said, "If it’s anything like her past proposals, I don’t think it’s something that people of this district would want."

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