UPDATE: Caprio camp responds.

Here's the full response from the Caprio campaign, via e-mail:

At the exact time our opponents were busy drafting and releasing this attack, Frank was meeting with fifteen small business owners at a factory in Cranston, working on finding ways to save and create jobs. He will not be distracted by engaging in political bickering and maneuvering.

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In the first loud shot in Rhode Island's Democratic primary, Patrick Lynch's campaign is questioning the Democratic credentials of rival Frank Caprio. Here's part of how the Lynch team puts it in a news release:

Just one day after the Democratic candidate in Massachusetts lost the race for the seat formerly held by Senator Ted Kennedy, gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio pledged that if elected he would capitulate to the legislative agenda of the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition. During a session entitled “Going to war with labor”, Caprio rose and held up a pledge card saying that he would personally contribute to the group.  RISC is a right-wing group that is active in the so-called Tea Party movement which helped facilitate the defeat of Democrat Martha Coakley on Tuesday and responsible for a number of ugly protests around the country featuring racist rhetoric and signage over the past year. 

“Frank Caprio claims he is a Democrat but his actions speak louder than his words,” said Mike Mikus, campaign manager for Patrick Lynch for Governor.  “When he speaks at ‘Drinking Liberally’, Caprio claims he’s the most liberal candidate in the race, then weeks later pledges financial support for a group committed to defeating progressive Democrats across Rhode Island.”

“Frank Caprio is either not the progressive he claims to be or he is spooked by the loss of one campaign in a neighboring state,” Mikus said. “Either way, his pledge to contribute to an organization designed to attack Democrats proves that he should not be the standard bearer of the Democratic Party in the fall.”

Mikus, in apparent reference to some repeated remarks by state GOP chair Giovanni Cicione, adds: "At least we now know why the Republican Party constantly attacks Attorney General Lynch while leaving Frank Caprio alone -- he's one of them."

I left a phone message a short time ago for Caprio spokeswoman Margie O'Brien, and will post her response when she gets back.

This line of attack from the Lynch camp isn't surprising. The more interesting questions are how Caprio will parry, and whether this is the start of a brutal primary that will benefit independent candidate Lincoln Chafee.