The 2012 U.S. Senate election won't be held for another 544 days but two Democratic contenders are already sniping at one another.
Former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz kicked things off with a press release accusing U.S. rep. Chris Murphy of hypocrisy on Afghanistan.
On the campaign trail, Murphy has been calling for U.S. troops to return home from Afghanistan. Yet Bysiewicz says he did not vote in favor of a resolution in march that would have required an immediate withdrawal by U.S. forces.
"The voters of Connecticut deserve an explanation from Congressman Murphy on why he says that he is using his vote to bring American troops home but actually voted against an immediate withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan," said Bysiewicz spokesman Mark Bergman.
"This is exactly the type of political doublespeak we have come to expect from Washington politicians like Congressman Murphy. Susan Bysiewicz is the only candidate in the US Senate race that supports an immediate withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. Connecticut voters deserve a true progressive voice in the US Senate to replace Joe Lieberman, not another Washington insider that will say one thing but vote another way."
Reached this afternoon, Murphy's chief of staff, Francis Creighton, dismissed the Bysiewicz allegations.
"Here are the facts - Chris isn't just talking about ending the war in Afghanistan, he's doing something about it,'' Creighton said. "He voted against the war funding bill last year, and recently joined 80 of his colleagues in a letter to President Obama demanding that troops begin coming home in large numbers this summer."
"But calling for troops to be withdrawn in 30 days is just political gamesmanship - it can't be done safely that fast. And this isn't a political issue for Chris - he cares about bringing our troops home because it's the right thing to do for them and for our national security, not because it gets him political points. He ran for Congress as an opponent of the Iraq War, and now he's turned his attention to ending the War in Afghanistan."
