Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Leader Perry Christie last night accused the Free National Movement (FNM) of 'attacking' his party's candidates.
Christie said the FNM is in so much trouble as a government it is taking the low road in its campaign.
Speaking at the official opening of the PLP's Golden Isles constituency office, Christie said the FNM is "attacking PLP candidates of such impeccable integrity and character that you almost can't believe they'd be so vicious and so stupid".
He told supporters the country can not afford to have an election based on such attacks.
"The real challenges facing our country are too serious," he said.  "So every time they invent some new charge, or recycle some tired, old already-discredited allegation, every time they do this, we'll show you how baseless and ridiculous they are, and then we'll go right back to telling you about the PLP's innovative plans to fight crime and create jobs."
Christie pledged: "They'll take the low road, and we'll take the high road because the low road doesn't take us where we need to go.  The low road is not the way to a safer and more prosperous nation."
The PLP leader did not specifically name which candidates are being 'attacked', but his comment came on the same day that Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell accused Leader of Government Business in the Senate Dion Foulkes of 'carrying things too far' on Wednesday when he tabled a 2007 United States Embassy cable in which a senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs official alleges Mitchell was involved in a visa scam while he served as minister.
Mitchell has sued the official - Dorothea Lafleur - and has told Foulkes in a public statement he takes what has been done personally.  He was referring to the tabling of the document.
The former minister also told Foulkes: "This blood libel by you has now set enmity between me and your house."
Christie previously said Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has attacked another PLP candidate - Dr. Perry Gomez, the AIDS program director who is running in North Andros and the Berry Islands.
Ingraham suggested last weekend that Gomez does not have a true commitment to the people of that constituency, but is only entering politics because he is facing mandatory retirement from the government health services sector.
Christie said last night that Bahamians are focused on fighting crime, creating jobs, and investing in people.
"The PLP is focused on fighting crime, creating jobs, and investing in people," he said.
Christie said the FNM does not want to talk about fighting crime or the economy.
"Why would they, when they made the recession so much worse in The Bahamas, with higher taxes, contracts for foreigners instead of Bahamians, and their failure to control energy costs?" he said.
He said all the FNM government has left is the national stadium and the Lynden Pindling International Airport project, which were initiated under his administration.
Christie claimed that when the PLP left office The Bahamas was a regional leader in employment.  "After the FNM, The Bahamas is at the bottom, among the worst-performing economies in the region," he said.
Last week, the Department of Statistics released the results of a November 2011 labor force survey, which revealed the unemployment rate jumped from 13.7 to 15.9 percent nationally, the highest in more than a decade.
The data painted a grim picture for Grand Bahama which saw unemployment figures rise from 15.4 percent in May 2011 to 21.2 percent in November 2011.
Christie said that with PLP Golden Isles candidate Michael Halkitis on his team, "we will lead the way forward".
"We see the problems, but we also see the potential," he said.  "We know we can create a booming economy here once again, with innovative ideas and a committed team of experts."
Halkitis served as parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Finance during the Christie administration.  He lost in his 2007 re-election bid to the FNM's Charles Maynard.
The PLP's Golden Isles constituency office is located on the corner of Carmichael Road and Bacardi Road.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian