What They’re Saying: “Oz And McCormick Squabble” & “Trade Fire” As “Forum Gets Tense In GOP’s Sharp-Elbowed US Senate Primary”

A wave of news coverage is highlighting how “fireworks took place” during the first public appearance between Oz and McCormick as the candidates “trade[d] fire” and “took aim at each other” in a “tense” and “sharp-elbowed forum” that came “after months of hammering each other with millions of dollars of television ads.”

See for yourself:

Associated Press: Forum gets tense in GOP’s sharp-elbowed US Senate primary

• The first public appearance between the highest-profile Republicans running for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania quickly became chippy Wednesday, as themes playing out in millions of dollars in sharp-elbowed TV attack ads played out on a small forum stage.
  
• The campaign in one of this year’s premier Senate contests also has been roiled by the arrival of three wealthy and well-connected candidates from other states, injecting carpetbaggery into the race as a prominent and persistent issue.

Fox News: Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary: Dr. Oz, David McCormick trade fire over fracking

• Mehmet Oz and David McCormick, two of the top contenders in Pennsylvania’s crowded and divisive Republican Senate primary, took aim at each other.
  
• The fireworks took place Wednesday morning at a candidates’ forum in Erie, Pennsylvania, organized and hosted by the Manufacturer & Business Association. Among the ground rules – the candidates were asked not to criticize each other.

• The verbal fistfight between Oz and McCormick is their latest confrontation over a host of issues, including China, charges that McCormick outsourced Pennsylvania jobs, and over Oz’s dual Turkish citizenship.
  
• The Senate race in Pennsylvania is the most expensive in the nation, with over $50 million spent to run ads by the campaigns and outside groups backing the candidates.
  
• Bartos, who once again repeated his charge that McCormick and Oz are “political tourists,” emphasized that “they’ve come in and they’re spending tens of millions of dollars on television…”

Bloomberg: Dr. Oz and McCormick Squabble Over Energy in GOP Senate Forum

• Mehmet Oz was forced to defend his conservative bona fides on energy issues in his first public appearance with former Bridgewater Associates Chief Executive Officer David McCormick in their hotly contested Republican primary race for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat.

• The two campaigns and the Super PACs supporting them have already set a record for primary spending in Pennsylvania in what could be one of the most expensive races in the U.S. this year. Oz and McCormick have spent $22.4 million on ads so far, and total spending for all the GOP candidates and their Super PACs is $43.2 million, according to AdImpact data.

• Real estate developer Jeff Bartos, the fourth candidate who participated in the forum, lamented how Oz and McCormick — who he calls “political tourists” — are spending millions of dollars in ads attacking each other and that “this campaign has devolved into fights on television.”

Pittsburgh Post Gazette: Republican frontrunners in Pa.’s U.S. Senate race trade barbs at Erie forum

• The two Republican frontrunners in the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania — Mehmet Oz and David McCormick — appeared on stage for the first time Wednesday morning alongside two of their opponents, trading jabs and name-dropping in the at-times heated forum.

• Mr. Friend attempted to enforce an agreed-upon rule that candidates would not attack or interrupt one another, asking them to save those attacks for the 7 p.m. hour, when attack ads between Mr. McCormick and Mr. Oz are likely to air.

• “I would not have to go scorched-earth if they would show up for a debate,” Ms. Barnette added, as she and Mr. Oz yelled over each other.

• Ms. Barnette continued her attacks on the race’s millionaire frontrunners, Mr. Oz and Mr. McCormick. “How has that served us, picking the richest person just because they’re the richest person?” Ms. Barnette asked. 

PennLive: Pa.’s Republican Senate candidates spar over authenticity, commitment to cause in Erie

• Tuesday’s forum was the first time Oz and McCormick shared a stage together, after a winter of trading sharp elbows on television and computer screens across the state, with Oz questioning McCormick’s fealty to Trump, and McCormick tagging Oz as a “RINO,” or Republican-in-name-only, whose stands on the issues will shift with public opinion.

• McCormick was the first to go on the attack Tuesday, accusing Oz of flip-flopping on energy.

Philadelphia Inquirer: GOP rivals take aim at Mehmet Oz during Senate campaign forum: ‘He’s a liberal’

• The event in Erie brought together Dave McCormick and Mehmet Oz at the same public event after months of hammering each other with millions of dollars of television ads.

• The ultra-wealthy Oz and McCormick have largely waged their campaigns on television and infrequently appear with other rivals during an already brutal primary.

NBC News: GOP rivals pile on ‘Dr. Oz’ during forum for Pennsylvania Senate candidates

• The diagnosis from Mehmet Oz’s confrontation Wednesday with his Republican opponents in Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate primary? Bruising.

• McCormick, a former hedge fund executive who has emerged as Oz’s top rival for the GOP nomination, landed the first blow.

• The forum was the first time that McCormick and Oz appeared on the same stage together. Although the hosts stressed that the event was to be collegial and free of the attacks seen in the deluge of ads, there were moments of tension.

Trip Gabriel, New York Times (@TripGabriel): Rules break down quickly: 

McCormick: “Mehmet on your shows and in your columns, you’ve argued for more regulation in fracking.”

“That is wrong, that’s a lie and you know it,” Oz responds. “You’ve been running those ads over and over.”  

Moderater jumps in to schold McCormick

Matt Holt, National Journal (@MattHolt33) It took about 15 minutes for McCormick and Oz to start going after each other. 

McCormick hit Oz for past comments on fracking and its health hazards. Oz erupts immediately, calls it a lie. Moderator steps in and they move on

Jonathan Tamari, Philadelphia Inquirer (@JonathanTamari): First sharp exchange of GOP forum comes as McCormick accuses Oz of criticizing fracking.

“You’ve argued for more regulation”

Oz: “That is a lie and you know it’s a lie”

Moderator noted they almost got thru 2 Qs before the “fun” began, despite rules against criticizing each other

###