> SOUTHERN INDIANA — U.S. Senate candidate Brad Ellsworth spoke at Clark County Democratic Party headquarters Monday, calling for his Republican opponent to stop running a “misleading and hypocritical” television advertisement as the rivals take jabs at each other’s records on national security.

In his first television commercial of the campaign, which began airing last week in parts of the state, Republican Dan Coats explains that he became ambassador to Germany the day before the Sept. 11 attacks. He then states that Congressman Ellsworth voted to close Guantanamo Bay and move terrorists to the United States, where they will have the same legal rights as Americans.

“The ad is absolutely incorrect in regards to my feelings about Gitmo,” Ellsworth said at a press conference in Jeffersonville. “We want to make sure that if and when we close Gitmo, it is done in a safe and secure manner.”

Ellsworth has voted against Republican-proposed amendments that would bar the use of taxpayer dollars to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and reject the transfer of detainees into the United States.

Ellsworth said there was already legislation that taxpayer funds could not be used until a plan was approved by Congress. He said he, like General David Petraeus and former General Colin Powell, supports closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay because he believes it is a “breeding ground” for terrorists.

“If and when Gitmo is shut down, I have full confidence in our federal prisons,” Ellsworth said. “We have suspected terrorist combatants in U.S. prisons right now.”

Ellsworth, who served as Vanderburgh County Sheriff before being elected the U.S. Congress, recalled Sept. 11, 2001, dispatching police officers to schools and personally standing in front of a federal building with a shotgun in case the terrorist attacks spread to the Midwest.

“I resent after 25 years of protecting the streets of Vanderburgh County the suggestion that I wouldn’t protect the people of the United States from terrorists,” he said.

Pete Seat, Coats’ campaign spokesman, said they stand by the content of their advertisement.

“The ad was meant to contrast Congressman Ellsworth’s dangerously naive record on national security with Coats’ vigilance and record of service,” Seat told The Evening News and The Tribune.

Ellsworth said Coats’ ad is “hypocritical” because King and Spaulding, a lobbyist firm where Coats worked after his previous term as U.S. Senator, is working to release six suspected terrorists from the facility. He also claims that another lobbying firm where Coats worked represented the Republic of Yemen, believed to be a sponsor of terrorism.

“You can’t move back to Indiana and tell us you’ll be tough on terrorism, but line your pockets from two separate lobbying firms that represented Yemen, a country known for its terrorist activity, and six suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay,” he said.

Seat responded by saying Coats had no involvement in those cases.

With the election just more than two months away and both candidates admitting voters are primarily concerned about the economy and health care, Guantanamo Bay may seem a strange topic of debate. Both candidates accuse the other of making it an issue to distract voters.

Seat said Ellsworth’s “wild accusations are a clear effort to distract voters from his record and also his votes for the jobless stimulus, TARP Wall Street bailout, bloated budgets and the very unpopular health spending bill that was pushed down the throats of the American people.”

About a dozen local Democrats met with Ellsworth Monday, and he answered several of their questions and explained his votes on other key issues.

Ellsworth said he always has been and always will be anti-abortion, and he made it clear he would not vote for a health care bill in which taxpayer dollars were used for abortions. He said he voted in favor of the bailouts because financial experts said the country was days away from total economic collapse and he wanted to protect the individuals that would lose everything in that type of collapse.

Ellsworth said he has released two television commercials that reached about 60 percent of the state. He expects to release more prior to the election but said he has no plans to respond directly to Coats’ first ad.

Since winning a five-way Republican primary in May, Coats has enjoyed a double-digit lead in polls of likely Indiana voters. Ellsworth was chosen by Democratic Party leaders after Sen. Evan Bayh announced he would not seek re-election.