On Halloween night, the candidates for governor tried to expose each other's tricks and also throw out some treats to voters during their last debate on Kentucky Educational Television.
Lieutenant Governor Paul Patton, the Democratic candidate, narrowed next week's election against his opponent, Republican Larry Forgy, to an issue.
"Yes, the real question in this campaign is who you can trust," Patton said.
At various times during the hour-long debate, Patton pointed to Forgy's failure to disclose his business transactions and not disclosing a possible conflict of interest Forgy, an attorney, had in the Big Rivers Electric Corp. scandal.
Forgy was an attorney for the troubled power company based in western Kentucky. Now it is in bankruptcy court with a $1 billion debt, although it is unclear if Forgy had any involvement.
But Forgy said he isn't releasing the section of his income tax records that show his business deals because he has made some poor investments that he doesn't want Patton's attorneys to distort.
"You can trust Paul Patton to make the most vicious charges against me in this campaign," Forgy said, calling his opponent's campaign the most negative he has witnessed in Kentucky politics.
Forgy argued that voting for Patton elects the "same old thing" back to Frankfort. The Democratic Party has won each election for governor the past 24 years.
"I haven't been there in 24 years -- almost 25," said Forgy, a Lexington attorney.
Kentucky's six-year old sweeping education reforms became a significant duel in the debate.
"I want to make this clear because of all that the media has distorted," Forgy said. "I have never said that KERA needs to be repealed. It needs to be perfected."
Forgy called for a review of the KERA system led by Kentucky teachers and parents, who he said were left out of the reform process in 1989.
In addition, Forgy targeted the ungraded primary system, and mandatory portfolios for science and math classes as reforms that need reform.
Patton promised no specific steps, but also called for a comprehensive review of the entire, roughly 960-page reform law. The evaluation could be conducted like when the initial reforms were made in 1990 -- led by the General Assembly, Patton said.