Fourteen years ago, he went to Washington promising change, but Washington politics changed him

Ronnie Musgrove and Roger Wicker duked it out at Mississippi College tonight. The Clarion Ledger already has their wrapup piece out.

I love the opening salvo.

Wicker, who spoke first, wasted little time attacking Musgrove. "Almost every left-wing liberal group is sending money into Mississippi to pay for campaign commercials for my opponent," he said in his opening statement.

Musgrove shot back: "Fourteen years ago, he went to Washington promising change, but Washington politics changed him."

Musgrove's reply blows Wicker out of Clinton on this one.

Their race is one of the most contentious of this election season. Attack ads, mainly funded by out-of-state sources, air across Mississippi. Republican and Democratic national parties' political campaign committees have poured money into the election.

"How can you sleep at night, knowing those ads are running about your opponent, who at one time was your roommate?" one panelist asked the candidates.

"I campaign mighty hard and I'm tired at night, so I can sleep," Wicker said, evoking laughter. He added that his attempts to ask television stations to remove some ads critical of him have been unsuccessful.

"We can't do anything about these third-party ads on TV," Musgrove said.

"His ad called me a liar," Musgrove added. "I don't sleep well at night when someone is calling me that."