STEVE PEARCE ACCUSED OF FLIP FLOPPING!

UPDATE - 5:14PM NBC has cancelled the Udall - Pearce Debate on Sunday to focus on the economic crisis. Heath Haussaman has the details here.

This afternoon, Democrats are responding to U.S. Senate candidate Steve Pearce's full page ad in the Los Alamos Monitor today, and an afternoon news conference, attacking Tom Udall's congressional voting record.

Pearce has accused Udall of supporting a $400 million dollar budget cut at the Los Alamos National Labs, but Democratic staffers are upset. They say Pearce "has conveniently forgotten his dismal record of voting against Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories.

Dems say Pearce has continually voted against funding "for the very labs he now wants to protect."

They claim Pearce voted four times "to cripple the Department of Energy Budget."

Pearce's primary opponent, Rep. Heather Wilson, also made Pearce's record an issue, telling supporters that Pearce voted to cut $1.3 billion from DOE.

Wilson says it was "an 8 percent cut in the operating budget for a department that ensures the nuclear weapons stockpile is safe, secure and reliable."

During her unsuccessful bid, Wilson also told the Los Alamos Monitor "that just doesn't make any sense ... New Mexico needs a senator who will fight for the contributions the national labs and bases make to the nation's security ... The work you do here is too critical to our country."