For those who’ve been following the Viagra Volleys between the two GOP candidates for governor — state Treasurer Sarah Steelman and U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof — here’s the latest installment:

Steelman is up with a new TV spot on the subject, which can be viewed here

But in a more interesting take on the whole debate, Steelman spokesman Spence Jackson has gone to the trouble of presenting what he believes will be Hulshof’s responses, and Steelman’s counter replies.

And here is the pretend exchanges:

(Hulshof) “She is distorting my voting record and taking it out of context.  Lots of things get buried in bills and I never got the opportunity to vote on this.”

(Steelman) It was an up or down vote on whether the government should spend taxpayer dollars on sexual enhancement drugs.  H.R. 3010, the FY06 Labor-Health and Human Services-Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, Roll Call 312.  Voting against viagra in no way impacted his ability to vote for the underlying bill.  It was a separate up or down vote.

(Hulshof) “When she was in the Missouri Senate, Sarah Steelman and her colleagues passed a budget that allows sex offenders to get Viagra.”

(Steelman) The federal government set the rules for what drugs had to be covered (see DSS press release from 2005).  Kenny Hulshof serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicare and Medicaid.  He did nothing to fix this problem, even though he, unlike the state government, had the power to do something about it.

(Hulshof) “The whole delegation condemned her recent statements about my record.”

Steelman) Only 33 Republicans, including Congressman Hulshof, voted against this common-sense prohibition.  Within the Missouri delegation, he was joined by Russ Carnahan and Lacy Clay, two St. Louis Democrats.  Reps. Akin, Blunt, Emerson, Graves, Cleaver, and Skelton all opposed taxpayer subsidies for Viagra.  Will Rep. Hulshof be authoring a press release for Reps. Carnahan and Clay to sign defending his record on Viagra?  He can’t hide behind the skirt of the congressional delegation to cover up his record forever.

(Hulshof) “She doesn’t understand the federal legislative process.”

(Steelman) Sarah Steelman understands that Hulshof has received $55,000 in contributions from the companies that make Viagra, Cialis, and Levtira: $11,000 from Eli Lilly (Cialis), $23,500 from Pfizer (Viagra), $1,000 from Bayer (Levitra), and $20,000 from GlaxoSmithKline and its predecessor Smith Kline Beecham (also Levitra), and that on a simple up or down vote, he voted to require the federal government to pay for sexual enhancement drugs made by these companies.

 (Us) Viva Viagra!