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ELIZABETHTOWN -- A luncheon sponsored by the Elizabethtown-Hardin County Chamber of Commerce was the second of three joint appearances today for the two candidates in Kentucky's 2nd Congressional District race. State Sens. Brett Guthrie (R-Bowling Green) and David Boswell (D-Owensboro) both took the podium for around seven minutes and  made their case to the hundred-plus in attendance at the Pritchard Community Center in Elizabethtown.

The candidates hammered on their developed themes, with Boswell pushing his "America First" slogan and highlighting his years of experience in government and Guthrie pointing to his own government service and time in the private sector.

The Republican and the Democrat appeared to get along well on-stage, joking prior to their speeches, and they largely did not reference each other during their respective speeches. Guthrie, who has been the target of attack ads from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in recent weeks, did offer a defense from the DCCC's charges that his family company exported work to Mexico.

The Republican candidate repeated his assertion that his Bowling Green-based company, Trace Die Cast, did not ship work south of the border, but only sold products to a customer with a factory based there.

"If we don't change the culture in Washington D.C., these partisan attacks are not going to stop in the future," said Guthrie of the ads.

Guthrie also tried to positively discuss Trace's history, describing it as a business his father started after losing his job elsewhere.

"We need to maintain that spirit," said Guthrie.

In front of the business-friendly Chamber of Commerce crowd, Guthrie said his "real world experience" at Trace would be an asset, given current economic turbulence, saying he had experience handling health care issues and trade concerns.

"Every day, our company tries to figure out how are we going to compete with China, how are we going to compete with India, how are we going to compete with Mexico?" said Guthrie.

In his speech, Boswell described his government service, noting his time in the state House, state Senate, and as Commissioner of Agriculture. He referenced changes he made while as Commissioner of Agriculture and touched on an ethics bill he frequently touts on the trail.

"I drafted one of the toughest ethics laws in the country - one that even congress to this day will not adhere to," said Boswell.

The crux of his remarks was to highlight the national debt as a principal problem.

"My concern for my grandchildren and your grandchildren is the fact that we have a $10 trillion federal debt that we did not have 8 years ago," said Boswell.

Boswell said the financial bailout package passed last week exacerbated the debt issue.

"You add that $850 billion to that $10 trillion debt that I mentioned a moment ago and that's a mighty deep hole that we have to dig ourselves out of," said Boswell.

Today's lunch marked the candidates' latest appearance in Elizabethtown, the largest city in the 2nd District that one of the candidates does not already represent. As such, the candidates referenced issues pertaining to the area - including concerns over the future of the nearby Ft. Knox military installation.

Boswell said he would aim to have an influence on the Base Realignment and Closure committee that considers the future of American military installations. The Democrat deemed to re-name the committee, as well, calling it "The Base Realignment and Continuation" committee.

Boswell also told the crowd he thought the government "should withdraw our troops from Iraq in a uniform fashion without a timeline."

For his part, Guthrie referenced his own time at Ft. Knox, when he visited the base for training as part of his service in the U.S. Army.

Both candidates also praised the current incumbent, Republican U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis, of nearby Cecilia.

The two candidates earlier appeared at a breakfast together in Owensboro and are scheduled to debate tonight in Bowling Green.