Democrat tells moderator he's 'prettier' than Crowley

Democrat Richard Carmona, who is running for the Senate in Arizona, apologized for joking with the male moderator of a televised debate that the man is "prettier" than CNN's Candy Crowley.

"I tried to tell a joke to lighten the mood in a debate. I shouldn't have, and I'm sorry," Carmona said in a statement.

Things apparently got heated between Carmona and GOP Rep. Jeff Flake in their debate Thursday. Moderator Brahm Resnik of KPNX-TV at one point said: "Now I know how Candy Crowley felt, geez," in reference to the journalist who refereed the town hall debate this week between President Obama and Mitt Romney.

"You're prettier," Carmona said to Resnik.

The exchange was first reported by BuzzFeed.

In the Arizona race, Flake has made an issue of allegations that Carmona has mistreated women. The Republican is running an ad featuring physician Cristina Beato, a former colleague of Carmona's, who says in the commercial that the Democrat "has issues with anger, with ethics and with women." Carmona has responded with his own ad featuring retired captain Kathleen Brennan, his former SWAT team commander, who says, "Rich treats everyone with respect. It doesn't matter whether you're male or female."

Carmona, a former U.S. surgeon general, was encouraged by President Obama to seek the Senate seat of retiring GOP Sen. Jon Kyl. The Arizona race is closer than expected with Flake leading Carmona by an average of less than 1 percentage point in polls, according to RealClearPolitics.