The campaign for lieutenant governor has devolved into video-to-video combat, with Democrat Sam Page and Republican Peter Kinder trading accusations over tax credits, health care – even a bicycle race. 

   In television ads and on the stump, Kinder has accused Page of opposing criminal background checks of foster parents. He says Page voted to boost government payments to his medical practice. And he rips Page, a doctor, for planning to keep a hand in the medical field if he is elected.

   Page has criticized Kinder for accepting a $40,000 campaign contribution from a developer, then supporting a $95 million tax credit designed to help that developer renovate property in blighted sections of north St. Louis.

   He blasted Kinder for supporting the 2005 Medicaid cuts that eliminated medical coverage for 90,604 low-income residents and for opposing research on early stem cells. And Page has criticized Kinder for using $350,000 in job-development funds to pay for last year’s Tour of Missouri bicycle race. 

   Videos detailing the charges and countercharges fill the television airwaves, line up on YouTube and are attached to statements the campaigns churn out.

   Page, meanwhile, has been the target of fake middle-of-the-night phone calls and a letter designed to discredit his campaign. On the eve of the Aug. 5 Democratic primary, automated phone calls pretending to be in support of Page went out repeatedly to Democratic voters as early as 3 a.m.

   Last week, an unsigned letter purporting to be from a Democratic leader was sent out, calling Page a flawed candidate who was trailing Kinder by a hopeless margin. In fact, the most recent poll showed Kinder with a narrow lead.    

   It adds up to one of the most spirited and antagonistic campaigns in years for the state’s second-highest office.

   Kinder, 54, who served 12 years in the state Senate before becoming lieutenant governor four years ago, emphasizes his experience, his work on behalf of veterans and the elderly and his support for development projects in St. Louis and Kansas City.

   He credits his insistence on state tax credits for the new Internal Revenue Service offices for keeping those jobs in Kansas City. He endorsed state support for the Nelson-Atkins Museum expansion and many of the new projects downtown. And he is now supporting state help for redevelopment of Bannister Mall in south Kansas City.

   But Kinder’s support for many of the projects – particularly his support for tax subsidies for a new stadium for the St. Louis Cardinals – has been criticized as efforts to curry favor with business interests.

   Kinder, of Cape Girardeau, argues that his stands demonstrated the political courage needed move beyond regional interests and move the state forward.

   “If the attack on me succeeds, it will be 50 years before any out-state lawmaker supports another project in Kansas City or St. Louis…,” Kinder said. “I’m bringing an extraordinary type of leadership to this that you don’t usually see from a southeast Missouri boy.”

   Page says Kinder has supported too many handouts to business. He cited Kinder’s support for tax subsidies for the Ballpark Village in St. Louis and a $95 million tax credit for developer Paul McKee Jr. to try to redevelop sections of north St. Louis.

   “He has supported a whole list of subsidies that haven’t come to fruition,” Page said. “It shows a lack of follow through.”

   Kinder bristles at Page’s criticism that economic development money was used to pay for the Tour of Missouri. Kinder said the race showcased Missouri to an international audience and was well worth the $1.7 million cost. He called the race the biggest sporting event ever brought to Missouri and lauded the exposure it gave to numerous small cities.

   “I’m being attacked for what many of us consider an enormous success,” Kinder said. “This race was the biggest thing to hit Clinton since the Union army – with a somewhat more positive impact.”

   Page, 43, was born in Kansas City, but was raised in the southeast Missouri hamlet of Van Buren. He returned to attend college and medical school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, becoming an anesthesiologist and a specialist in pain management.

   He evantually settled in the St. Louis suburb of Creve Coeur with his wife, Jennifer, a fellow doctor and former cheerleader for the Kansas City Chiefs. He served on the City Council from 1999 until he was elected to the Missouri House in 2002.

   Page has criticized Kinder’s support for Gov. Matt Blunt’s budget cuts and his opposition to research on early stem cells. Page said such research is critical to finding new treatments and to growing the economy in St. Louis and Kansas City.

   “The intellectual capital of Washington University and the Stowers Institute is huge,” Page said. “It has a big impact when politicians’ positions cause the anti-science label to get thrown around about Missouri.”

   Page said Kinder hasn’t done enough as an advocate for seniors or for early childhood programs, both of which are official duties of the lieutenant governor. He cited Blunt’s proposal to eliminate First Steps, a program that works with disabled toddlers. 

   “If the governor suggests cutting First Steps, I would expect the lieutenant governor to step up and say, ‘Hey, these kids can have a normal life if we catch them early enough,’ ” Page said.

   Kinder said he had worked hard on senior issues. Missouri’s program to subsidize the purchase of medicine by low-income seniors was first approved when he was leader of the Senate. Since becoming lieutenant governor, Kinder said, funding for nutrition programs, both at senior citizen centers and home-delivered meals, has increased modestly.

   On early childhood issues, Kinder said he did not consider them part of the lieutenant governor’s portfolio of tasks.

   Kinder has accused Page of planning to work only part-time as lieutenant governor. Page dismissed the accusation, saying he would occasionally fill in for another doctor or go on a mission to help people in need such as his work in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. But he would not see patients on a scheduled basis, he said.

   Kinder also has criticized Page for voting to increase Medicaid fees paid to doctors. Page said his vote was supported by the Blunt administration and was designed to encourage more doctors to take Medicaid patients. The increase makes almost no difference to him, Page said, because he works only one day a week while campaigning.

   Kinder also has run television ads asking, “Why did Sam Page vote against vital child care reform? Even after the tragic abuse of (a child) made headlines, Sam Page opposed criminal background checks for foster care providers.”

   Actually, the 2003 bill that Page voted against was vetoed by then-Gov. Bob Holden because of numerous problems cited by prosecutors and juvenile police investigators. The bill would have made it impossible for prosecutors to subpoena victims and witnesses of child abuse. The problems were corrected and a similar bill was approved the following year.

   Page has accused Kinder of having his staff do political work while on the state payroll. And Kinder gave huge pay raises to staff members while other staffers left the office to work on political campaigns.

   Kinder said staff members work on campaigns only if they take vacation or other personal time off. And he defended the temporary pay raises, saying his staff was working much harder while the office was shorthanded.