After months of milquetoast statements and letting surrogates do any campaign trash talking, incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran went on the offensive in Hattiesburg on Tuesday, calling his opponent Chris McDaniel “an extremist” who would hurt Mississippi with indiscriminate cuts to federal spending.

He also made his strongest statements to date about McDaniel supporters allegedly sneaking into Cochran’s wife’s nursing home room and taking photos of her for a political hit piece video and about McDaniel campaign. And about an investigation into McDaniel campaigners being found by authorities locked in the Hinds County courthouse in the wee hours of the morning after election night with conflicting stories about why they were there.

But his offensive campaign and more hands-on stumping comes late in the game, as Cochran trails McDaniel at least slightly in recent polls since fighting to a draw in last week’s primary and heading to a runoff June 24. McDaniel led slightly in the primary, but neither secured more than 50 percent on June 3.

McDaniel continues campaigning on growing anti-Washington, anti-incumbent and tea party sentiment. Cochran is trying to turn the tables, remind Mississippians what his seniority and clout has done for the state.

“He said he wouldn’t even vote for disaster assistance for Mississippi,” Cochran said, referring to McDaniel statements early in the race where he demurred on whether he would have supported federal Katrina relief Cochran helped secure. McDaniel later clarified he would have supported the relief spending. One of the Cochran campaign’s earliest ads attempted to make hay over McDaniel’s comments.

“That’s the most outrageous thing I’ve heard ever from a public official in Mississippi,” Cochran said “… He doesn’t want any federal dollars used to help out a state like Mississippi after a hurricane has hit the Gulf Coast, like Katrina? Did he go down there to look at what had happened and how much money was going to be required to restore all of that?”

Cochran, 76, has faced questions of his age and whether he was really engaged in his own campaign for a seventh term or up to the task. Media and public access to him had appeared limited by handlers.

McDaniel supporters have seized on this theme, and claimed Cochran is too old, too immersed in Washington politics and out of touch with Mississippians. A “Where’s Thad?” website was created by McDaniel supporters before the first primary vote.

This week, Cochran is on the campaign trail across the state, making more public appearances and talking with potential voters and media and trying to take the offensive. He’s been hitting numerous spots that have benefitted from his seniority in the Senate and ability to bring home federal dollars. On Tuesday, stops included Forrest General Hospital and the University of Southern Mississippi School of Nursing — for which he helped secure $3 million in federal money to build a new nursing school building.

Of the Katrina relief, Cochran noted he worked hard with others in the state delegation to help save the Gulf Coast from ruin after Katrina.

“(McDaniel) is trying to indict that kind of power and influence in Washington?” Cochran said. “It would be dangerous to have somebody like him elected.”

Cochran also talked Tuesday about the incident with his wife in the nursing home and the McDaniel campaigners locked in the courthouse, although Cochran referred to it as “the jail.”

“It’s bizarre people got arrested doing things at the nursing home where my wife is,” Cochran said, “and the jail — people in there after midnight — and these are people working for him and his candidacy? What in the world were they doing up there? I don’t think anybody knows all the answers yet. How many people were involved? What were they up to? I’m just raising the question. I don’t have the answers. But it sure is bizarre, isn’t it? I mean, think about it.”

Cochran said that as the runoff nears, “People need to be reminded of things that (McDaniel) has said and done.”

“And what he’s promised not to do, like vote for the farm bill,” Cochran said, “or whether he would vote for programs to help the poor and the needy. We have a lot of federal initiatives and if he’s going to take in after all of them and cut the budget, we are going to be the state that suffers the most and to me that’s a mistake.”

McDaniel on Tuesday had campaign stops scheduled including Meridian, Newton and Forest. His campaign released a new television ad entitled “History.”

It says Mississippians on June 3rd “made history by voting for conservative Chris McDaniel for U.S. Senate” and that McDaniel vows to “repeal Obamacare entirely, reduce the national debt, cut taxes and term limits for all our politicians.”

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