Posted Thursday, October 18, 2012 --- 8:45 p.m.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson says he wants to protect Medicare, despite campaign attack ads that show him saying no one was better to end it.
Thompson said in Thursday's debate with Democrat Tammy Baldwin that he wants to create a system that allows people to choose Medicare or the federal insurance program that is offered to members of Congress. He says Baldwin wants to "allow the federal government to direct your hospital, your doctor, your pharmacy. She does not believe that Obamacare went far enough."
The exchange early in their second of three debates became heated with Thompson extolling Baldwin to tell the truth about her record. Baldwin retorted that she was speaking truthfully.
Polls show the race for Wisconsin's open Senate seat to be a dead heat.
Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.
