This letter comes after Allegretti spent the past two days hammering his opponent in the G.O.P primary for passing out campaign photographs of himself wearing military ribbons that he did not earn. Grimm says he was weaing the ribbons that he was entitled to and called Allegretti a "petulant child."

Now the Iraq Veterans for Congress have weighed in, and have come down strongly on Grimm's side, saying that medals are often awarded only to be removed later once the military does a more thorough review.

"That kind of thing happens all the time," said Kieran Lalor, the founder of the group. "It's not like the movies where five minutes after your done fighting the enemy the Commanding Officer is pinning a medal on your chest.  Perhaps if Allegretti spent some time in uniform he'd know this and wouldn't be such a whiney brat."

The IVC isn't exactly neutral in this--the group has endorsed Grimm and sent money his way. And Lalor dismissed as well the veterans who stood behind Allegretti at the news conference where he first made the charge against Grimm.

"You can always scrap together a critical mass of veterans to stand behind you," he said.

Today Allegretti doubled-down, accusing Grimm of further confusing matters by blaming his commanding officer and an army administrative mix-up on the error, instead of answering the fundamental question: why did Grimm pass out campaign photos of himself wearing the wrong ribbons?

"Michael Grimm has done something wrong, something dishonest, something that goes to the core of his integrity. It has absolutely nothing to do with his service. It has to do with his integrity," Allegretti said in an interview. "What he has done is use a photo in which he admits that he has medals on that he is not supposed to be wearing, and he is trying to confuse the issue by saying 'Allegretti  never served, so don't worry about it'"

He added, "I was not in the military, but I know right from wrong in life. Why did you choose to use a photo in which you were pictured with awards which you admit that you have known for a full ten years that you were not supposed to be wearing?"

He called on Grimm to name the commanding officer who awarded him the ribbons.

Reached for comment, Grimm said, "It's very simple. At the time that picture was taken, I was authorized to wear those ribbons. It wasn't like I made an error. That is what I was rated...What is his assertion? That I should never use photos of myself in military uniform? That is absurd."

Grimm said that the ribbons in question on unit citations, and not medals of valor, and that it is common for them to be awarded erronously and then revised.

"This is the last bullet in his gun," Grimm said. "He is extremely desperate. He is trying to Blumenthal me. The only problem is that I did serve, and I did serve honorably and I have the paperwork to prove it."

Oh, and he did offer the name of his commanding officer: Major Cauldwell. He said he did not know or remember his first name.

"We called him 'Sir.'"

Both are vying for the right to take on incumbent Democrat Mike McMahon in the November, who surely is hoping that these two get into a knock-down drag-out primary. In a release, Allegretti touches upon this point

"A debate will allow both of us to talk directly to the voters, and to make our respective cases as to why we should take on Mike McMahon," Allegretti said. "The one thing the Democrats fear most is a well organized, thoughtful Republican candidate with ideas and grassroots support. This gives us a chance to tell the world what either of us would do as a member of Congress, and to shore up our support."

As Celeste notes, calling for a debate is a common practice for underfunded challengers going against early favorites; the challenger gets to stand on the same stage, making the challenger seem equal in stature to the favorite, and it creates the opportunity for the favorite to say something stupid.

In the case of the Staten Island G.O.P. primary, sources tell me that Grimm has a slight edge: he has raised more money, has the Conservative Party backing, and the support of national G.O.P. leaders like Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Sarah Palin. But Allegretti has the support of the Island Republican establishment, and can dump a whole lot of his personal wealth into the campaign.

However, people who have seen them debate in person before (which, unlike Maloney-Saujani, they actually did) tell me that Allegretti seemed much more fluent on the issues than his opponent.

Full Allegretti letter below:

Letter to Grimm for Debate - Allegretti for Congress

Yesterday, The Observer published a story about how the McMahon campaign had compiled opposition reseach of Jewish donors to the campaign of Mike Grimm, who is battling Allegretti for the G.O.P. nod.

Asked if that meant that McMahon was scared of a general election against Grimm, Allegretti responded, "Mike McMahon should simply be scared of his record."

Allegretti received the nomination of both the Staten Island and Brooklyn Republican parties, but he has lagged in fundraising, garnering only $90,000 in the last period, compared to over $200,000 that Grimm raised.  Allegretti's family owns Bayside Fuel Oil Corporation, which was once one of the city's largest private business, and observers have been expecting him to write himself a big check.

Allegretti said that he had not considered doing that, and added that "my support is profoundly confident and profoundly deep."

And on a day where everybody from the state G.O.P to the Republican Jewish Coalition took shots at McMahon, Allegretti demurred.

"I am not going to exploit this issue for my own political gain."

dfreedlander@observer.com

Grimm's fund-raising has previously been criticized for not having as many local contributors as you'd expect.