[img_assist|nid=1487|title=Jeff Beatty on the deck of the USS Guam after being evacuated from Grenada|desc=Campaign Photo|link=popup|align=left|width=410|height=252]Republican Jeff Beatty's campaign responded Friday to the Kerry campaign's earlier charge that  he roots for the New York Yankees, accusing the Kerry campaign of dodging questions and engaging in smear tactics.

In response to Beatty's call for an examination of Kerry's ties to bailout insurance company AIG, Brigid O'Rourke, a spokeswoman for the Boston Democrat, told the Boston Globe: "In case Jeff Beatty hasn't noticed, that AIG stock he's talking about isn't looking so hot these days - sort of like his favorite baseball team, the New York Yankees."

The Beatty camp said the Harwich Republican is not a Yankees fan and said that O'Rourke made the remark because a Yankees hat was put on Beatty to keep bandages on his head when he was injured rescuing U.S. hostages in Grenada (photo above).

Instead of engaging on the issue, Beatty spokeswoman Christine Hunsinger said, the Kerry camp chose political smears.

"When asked serious questions, John Kerry sidesteps, smears, and then goes on the attack," Hunsinger said. "Add to the long list of people Kerry has insulted those military doctors and medical students, some Yankees fans or Red Sox fans like Jeff, who risked their lives to tend to soldiers while under fire in Grenada. If these weren't such serious times, we would ask for an apology. Instead we say it's time to fire John Kerry."

The Kerry camp responded by pointing the finger back at Beatty for his personal attacks.

"It's ironic that Jeff Beatty, whose entire campaign has been a litany of personal attacks on John Kerry, now cries foul when jibed about his baseball allegiances," O'Rourke said Friday.

"Indeed, the times are serious, which leaves us wondering why Jeff Beatty has not offered one meaningful or thoughtful solution to the challenges we face as a country -- our economy in crisis, the homeownership and mortgage disaster, the home-heating emergency and a healthcare system so broken that it fails to serve our most vulnerable," O'Rourke added. "These are the challenges left by eight years of failed Bush-Cheney policies and this is the legacy of failures Jeff Beatty seeks to perpetuate in his campaign."