Evan McMorris-Santoro July 9, 2010, 10:11 AM

The two men vying to replace the retiring Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) in the Senate met yesterday in their first joint appearance of the general election. Though not a true “debate” — the event was a candidate forum before an audience of public officials in Lousiville — Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Jack Conway took plenty of swipes at one another, according to local news reports from the event.

Paul “said Conway is ‘just too liberal’ for most Kentuckians,” according to the Louisville Courier-Journal and “linked Conway to President Barack Obama, who he said wants to raise taxes and expand government.”

Conway took Paul’s controversial views head-on, and “said voters shouldn’t be scared by Paul’s rhetoric,” according to the paper.

But perhaps the hottest exchange came over Paul’s now-infamous comment that Obama’s criticisms of BP over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are “un-American.”

Conway “blasted” Paul over the comment, according to the AP.

“Accountability is not going on national TV and saying that it’s un-American to go after British Petroleum,” Conway said. “Accountability is not having a world view where you think the government basically should never touch business whatsoever.”

Paul stood his ground on BP, somewhat. After explaining that his “un-American” statement was “misconstrued” by the media, he said he worried about the future effect of Obama’s rhetoric on the company’s bottom line.

“I don’t want them to go out of business when they can’t pay for the mess, and that’s what that kind of rhetoric could do,” Paul said. “I want BP to be in business so it can afford to pay for the mess.”

Watch the whole forum here:

KY-SEN