With a week left until the Kentucky primary election, Democratic Senate candidate Greg Fischer visited Bowling Green on Tuesday night to marshal support for his argument that he is best equipped to unseat Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in November.

A Louisville businessman who amassed his fortune by inventing a combination beverage and ice dispenser and founding the business SerVend and investment firm Iceberg Ventures, Fischer finds himself in a distant second place in polls behind Bruce Lunsford for the Democratic nomination.

Tuesday found Fischer embarking on a whirlwind schedule through the western part of the state, stopping in Hardinsburg and Owensboro before ending up in Bowling Green to meet with the local NAACP chapter and to hold a fundraiser at the Carroll Knicely Conference Center.

About 50 supporters came out to the conference center to hear the self-proclaimed “contrast candidate” make his case for the Democratic nomination.

“People talk about Mitch McConnell having a lot of power, but he hasn’t used that power for the good of all Kentuckians,” Fischer said.

A first-time candidate for public office, Fischer said he decided to run for the U.S. Senate because legislators in Washington were not meeting the needs of the people and had, through inaction, allowed small problems to turn into big problems.

Fischer identified energy independence as one of the top priorities he would address if elected.

“We’re a nation of inventors and innovators, but we’re being held hostage to nations that are hostile to our interests because of our dependence on foreign oil,” Fischer said.

Fischer also talked about the economic strain felt by people who lack health insurance, saying President Bush’s veto of additional funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program offended him and that he would support universal health care access for all Americans.

He also drew a sharp contrast with McConnell on the Iraq war.

While McConnell remains a supporter of the war, Fischer endorsed a withdrawal plan sponsored by several Democratic Congressional and Senate candidates.

“The thing that bothers me the most about the war, other than when somebody dies, is when the president can’t articulate why we’re in Iraq still or what our mission is,” Fischer said.

A poll taken this week by the Lexington Herald-Leader and WKYT shows Lunsford leading Fischer by 20 points. Five other Democrats earned single-digit support.

Bonnie Gibson, a retired educator from Bowling Green, said she was moved to support Fischer after hearing him speak this March at a meeting of the Warren County Democratic Women.

“I appreciated his sincerity and his desire to give to the community,” Gibson said. “His political stances are in line with what I think.”