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The two chief candidates in the closely contested race to fill the seat of retiring Democratic Rep. David Obey in Wisconsin's 7th District traded jabs over competing proposals to help control federal spending on Wednesday.

Republican Sean Duffy pegged his plan's theme around his own six children and embarked on what his campaign is dubbing a "6 Reasons For A Fiscally Responsible Future" tour.

"The debt my children, and the children of Wisconsin, are unfairly being saddled with from Congress' spending spree greatly concerns me as a father, and also as an American," Duffy, the former Ashland County District Attorney, said.

The highlights of Duffy's six proposals included a freeze on government spending at 2008 levels, a plan to transfer unspent federal stimulus and TARP funds to reducing the debt, and a commitment to vote against any future bailouts.

The release of Duffy's plan comes after an unusual exchange last Friday, in which the Democratic Party of Wisconsin said that it had obtained an advanced copy of an economic plan that Duffy was set to unveil. In response, the Duffy campaign said that while it did intend to make an announcement related to a new proposal this week, it would not be dubbed an "economic plan."

Duffy's presumptive opponent in the general election, Wisconsin State Senator Julie Lassa, previously released her own plan to combat inefficient federal bureaucracy and government waste.

"It's no surprise that after Julie shares her plan to shake up Washington and change Congress' business as usual, Sean Duffy would attempt to cover up his reckless agenda to ship Wisconsin jobs overseas with a series of shoddy political talking points," Lassa communications director Haley Morris said. "Wisconsin voters deserve real plans and real common sense solutions, but Sean Duffy just doesn't deliver."

On Wednesday, Lassa urged federal legislators to agree to a 10 percent pay cut until the national unemployment rate drops to pre-2008 levels and to decline any pay raises until the federal budget is balanced.

The Duffy campaign immediately struck back, pointing to Lassa's decision to accept a 2009 raise in her state salary, while other Wisconsin legislators made news by turning it down.

"The voters deserve better than Julie Lassa's hypocrisy and dismal record on legislative pay hikes and job growth," Duffy Campaign Manager Matt Seaholm said in another press release. "Lassa willingly took a hefty pay raise at a time when people throughout her district and the state were losing their jobs."

At the time, Lassa defended her decision to accept the pay raise, in part, by noting that it was only the second one that state legislators had received in six years and was below the rate of inflation.