Democratic challenger Andy Beshear backed Republican incumbent Matt Bevin into a corner on linking casinos to suicides during their third gubernatorial debate Saturday night.

Beshear, the state's attorney general, has trotted out a revenue plan that calls for using 100% of tax money from expanded gaming to supplement Kentucky's pension system.

During one of their debate exchanges at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Beshear said Bevin is known for making false claims, including about his revenue plan.

"This is just more of the same from a governor who says that someone commits suicide on a casino floor every night," Beshear said.

"I don't know where this comment about the casinos is," Bevin said in response. "I've never said anything like that in my life. That's absolute malarkey."

Beshear pointed out the comments were on tape and asked Bevin if he was denying ever saying people kill themselves in casinos.

"I do deny saying it," Bevin said.

"Really?" Beshear responded. "It's on tape."

But the governor did make those comments, without offering evidence, when decrying gambling's societal costs during a radio interview this July.

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"Every night somewhere in America, somebody takes their life in a casino because they’ve wasted the last semblance of dignity and hope that they had," Bevin told WKDZ radio in Cadiz, Kentucky.

Beshear described Bevin's debate performance as "erratic" and "unhinged" afterward when speaking with reporters.

"He was claiming he didn't say things he is on tape as saying," he said.

The governor bypassed speaking with reporters after the debate and ignored questions outside the venue about his radio comments.

During the debate, however, Bevin slammed Beshear's revenue plan as unfeasible. He told audience members there is little appetite for casinos in the GOP-controlled state legislature, where top Senate leaders announced this month it wouldn't pass.

"There is 0% chance this legislature will pass casino gaming in this state," Bevin said.

The debate touched on various issues such as education, job creation and tax reform, but continued to be defined by Bevin and Beshear's personal animosity.

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Bevin called out Beshear for being a supporter of public education while sending his children to private school as he did during their last debate in Lexington. At one point, the attorney general said the governor owed his wife, Britainy, an apology for bringing that up.

"No matter what my opponent says about me or to me tonight, I will never bring up his kids in this debate or any other," Beshear said.

"I'm not challenging his children at all," Bevin told audience members. "This was a decision you and your wife made."

"You're continuing to go after my kids," Beshear said.

Bevin demanded his own apology from Beshear when the Louisville debate turned to gun violence and mass shootings. He said at one of their previous debates the attorney general misrepresented meeting the families of two Marshall County high school students killed during a shooting last year.

"You've not met with them," Bevin said. "They don't know you. They've never met you, and you've not reached out to them since they have made it clear they don't know you."

Beshear said he went to the Western Kentucky high school 48 hours after the shooting, and met with victims' families at the first court hearing. He said his office also helped local prosecutors.

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Asked by reporters if he met with the families of the two teens killed — 15-year-olds Bailey Holt and Preston Cope — Beshear said he, "met with any parent that was there in that grand jury room" and that he didn't want to question anyone's recollection.

Republicans have sought to nationalize the race given President Donald Trump's popularity in Kentucky, whereas Democrats want the election to be about kitchen table issues and a referendum on Bevin's leadership.

Bevin's campaign manager Davis Paine emphasized how Beshear supports abortion and has criticized the president.

"While Andy Beshear is the abortion lobby's candidate and wants to 'stop the negative policies of Donald Trump,' Gov. Matt Bevin stands for life and stands for the president of the United States," Paine said.

The Bevin campaign has regularly criticized Beshear for being endorsed by pro-abortion groups, such as NARAL, while refusing to defend certain anti-abortion laws passed by the legislature.

Beshear, however, did not back down on the issue of abortion when it came up Saturday. He described Bevin as an "extremist" on the issue for not supporting certain exemptions, such as cases of rape or incest.

“Under this governor, a 13-year-old raped by a member of her own family and impregnated would have no options," Beshear said. "I think that’s wrong."

But Bevin also stood firm when Beshear called it "cruel" for the governor's office to pursue a federal waiver that would require able-bodied Medicaid recipients to either work, be in school or volunteer to keep their benefits.

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“I believe that able-bodied working age men and women, people who could go to work, people who don’t have dependents, should be doing something in exchange for the free health care that the men and women who go to work every day, that they might not have themselves, that they’re paying for,” Bevin said.

Bevin and Beshear are scheduled to participate in two more debates before the Nov. 5 election. The fourth will be Monday evening on KET in Lexington and their final debate at Northern Kentucky University on Tuesday night.

Reach Phillip M. Bailey at pbailey@courier-journal.com or 502-582-4475.