The House seat was left open as Democrat Rep. Scotty Baesler ran for the Senate.
Baesler said an August flap over Democratic ads that Fletcher charged were untrue put him in an early hole in polls.
But Fletcher, who says he did more in one congressional term than Baesler did in three, said Baesler's criticism is misplaced.
Baesler has not shied away from social issues that often sink other southern Democrats, supporting abortion rights and gun control measures.
Fletcher is a family doctor who lost to Baesler by 12 points in 1996 but won the job when Baesler left two years later.
National Republicans pulled their own ad earlier this week at Fletcher's request after its charge that Baesler took donations from "big insurance" interests was disputed.
Wendell Ford and Rep. Scotty Baesler also traveled with the president.
"Republicans came in smartly and spent a whole lot of money calling me a liar, " Baesler said, taking a break from making fund-raising calls in his downtown Lexington office.
"You reach a point where people get dulled to the whole thing and stop listening to the attacks, " acknowledged Fletcher, who said Baesler started it and he was forced to respond.
Baesler, a tobacco farm owner with a law degree, is a former Lexington mayor and University of Kentucky basketball player who left the seat in 1998 for a losing Senate run.
Democrat Baesler and Republican Fletcher have traded jabs on health care, prescription drug coverage and gun control, but saved their heaviest blows for personal questions about each other's truthfulness and effectiveness.
Baesler has focused on Fletcher's refusal to support a bipartisan health care reform bill and plans to provide prescription drug benefits under Medicare, saying Fletcher is beholden to drug and insurance companies.
" Republicans also brought back footage of a wild 1998 Baesler speech that was used against him in his Senate race and makes Baesler look, in his own words, "like a crazy man.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Reuters) - In the heart of Bluegrass country, where thoroughbreds and tobacco reign, voters are feeling a bit bruised and confused by the bitter congressional battle between Scotty Baesler and incumbent Ernie Fletcher.
"If they leave Congress with nothing accomplished on health care, which they are going to, then it's going to be something that is easy to translate to people, it defines the differences between us, " Baesler said.
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