Jaime West says she drank three beers before candidate forum

Jaime West said she drank three beers before a televised candidate forum, describing the alcohol as a response to nerves, during an October 19 interview with Piers Morgan. Her admission was made during the interview and is not independently verified; she also said she was not intoxicated to a significant degree, according to one account of the exchange. Morgan asked West how much she had consumed before the forum. She first said she had a Coors Light, then suggested she may have had a couple of beers. After further questioning, she said she had three. West explained that she was nervous about entering a room full of Republicans. The forum, broadcast by local station TV3, featured West in an interview with Connersville News Examiner managing editor Amy McCarty. In the exchange, West said she would fire all Republicans if elected and said she did not like them. She also delivered the closing remark, “We have guns too.” Those comments drew attention after clips of the forum circulated online. Asked by Morgan whether she wanted to attribute her remarks about Republicans to the alcohol, West said she did not. She said she makes such statements regularly and was not friends with...