Murante on Royal: Personal Attacks ‘Sad’

Omaha, Ne.—Did anyone see this coming? The gloves in the GOP race for State Treasurer—you read that right, State Treasurer— are off and the primary is still seven months away. [caption id="attachment_1227769" align="alignright" width="150"] Taylor Royal[/caption] The two hopefuls—State Sen. John Murante and Taylor Royal—have come out swinging. After Royal told News Channel Nebraska that Murante is "not qualified" for the job, Murante  cried foul. "It is sad that my opponent chose to launch his campaign with negative personal attacks," said the Gretna lawmaker. As News Channel Nebraska first reported, Royal—who ran for Omaha mayor and lost in the primary earlier this year— dismissed any suggestion that he's the dark-horse in the race:

NCN: Your opponent has been endorsed by the Governor, Lt. Governor, current State Treasurer and the State Auditor. Would you agree you're the underdog in this race.

Royal: No. It's well known that (Murante) wanted to run for Secretary of State and he got beat to the punch. And so now he is running for a position that he doesn't have the background in, not qualified for, doesn't have certification and so he's looking to keep his political life alive.

Asked for his reaction, Murante shot back, "My record has resulted in Nebraska's conservative leaders uniting behind my campaign." It's not clear where the race goes from here.  You see Murante says he remains committed to running a campaign based on his small business, conservative background. Royal says he's pushing lower taxes and "Love for our neighbor"—but that was before he said Murante was trying to keep his "political life alive." Follow Joe on Twitter and Facebook