In the final, and frequently antagonistic, debate between the candidates at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills yesterday, Mr. Kratovil, the Democratic Queen Anne's County State's Attorney, traded body blows with Dr. Harris, the Republican state senator from Baltimore County.

Libertarian candidate Richard Davis, a Dorchester County resident who runs a dental practice, was both physically and figuratively in the middle of the verbal swinging, as Mr. Kratovil and Dr. Harris traded attacks over him.

From economic to social and environmental policy, the candidates tried to describe to a packed auditorium how they would approach the issues of the day in office.

Even the omnipresent "Joe the Plumber" made an appearance in the candidates' statements.

Mr. Kratovil continued to emphasize his experience as a prosecutor and the desire to support the middle class with tax credits and increased business regulation to prevent another national financial meltdown.

"We've been burned before," he said. "We need to stop listening to people who tell us we need less regulation and not more."

The attorney attacked Dr. Harris for being helped by the Club For Growth, a conservative economic group which supports deregulation, and advocating for cuts in capital gains and corporate taxes.

"We should have learned that those taxes are not going to trickle down and help the rest of us," Mr. Kratovil said.

Mr. Kratovil has commonly tried to paint Dr. Harris - one of the most frequent no voters in the state senate - as on the fringe of the Republican Party. He brought up a 2000 vote where Dr. Harris was the only senator to vote against increasing the state's child income tax credit and expanding income eligibility from $40,000 to $50,000, as evidence of a philosophy that will not help the middle class.

Dr. Harris retorted he opposed the bill because it did not meet his own definition of middle class and the credits should not have been extended only to "the folks who earn up to $50,000 per couple."

"We needed to extend those child care tax credits to the middle class, that's why I voted against the bill," he said.

The Republican tried to deflate Mr. Kratovil's assertion of being an independent, listing high-profile Democrats who have been involved in the candidate's political past or are supporting his candidacy.

"Frank Kratovil is not an independent," he said. "Frank Kratovil was a Democratic partisan since the time he was a teenager."

Tax cuts for businesses are important to open up jobs and opportunities for Americans such as "Joe the Plumber," Dr. Harris said, referencing the Ohio man who questioned U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's tax policies.

"Joe the Plumber is the ultimate American individualist," he said. "We've got to continue and cherish and nourish the idea that every American can have that dream."

Mr. Kratovil said he was not convinced Republican ideas would help someone like that.

"Joe the Plumber is hurting because of the policies that we have had over the last number of years," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Davis calmly answered each question along the Libertarian line, advocating for better transparency and limiting the reach and spending of government.

"We seek a return to classical liberal ideas upon which this country was founded - a republic of independent citizens controlling their own individual destinies in so far as they do not forcefully or fraudulently intrude on the destinies of their fellow citizens," he said. "I'm here today to test your willingness to embrace that dream as the founders of this country did."

New and old ads

Resources continue to be dumped into the race, which lacks an incumbent and has become the most competitive in the state. Both campaigns are unveiling new television advertisements to reach voters before Election Day.

But one of the most volatile parts of yesterday's debate was when Mr. Kratovil challenged Dr. Harris over one of the Republican's commercials using a quote from The Daily Times that the newspaper later acknowledged was incorrect.

The Harris campaign's ad labels Mr. Kratovil as "clueless" because he said the financial crisis was solved following Congressional approval of the $700 billion bailout plan.

An audio of the statement provided by the Kratovil campaign, however, shows the candidate's words were not specifically about the bailout, but part of a broader, conceptual statement on how the federal government typically solves an immediate crisis but never gets to the root causes.

"I'm asking you tonight, whether you can tell the people here that are watching, why it is you are continuing to run an ad that quotes me on something you know I never said," Mr. Kratovil asked.

Despite The Daily Times' correction, Dr. Harris remained steadfast.

"The quote is accurate," he said. "That's the bottom line."

Mr. Kratovil returned to the commercial several times, eliciting cries from the crowd to stick to the issues.

"The bottom line is, it is an issue, it is an issue of credibility," he said in response. "It's also an issue of, are we going to continue to send folks to Washington, ladies and gentleman, who are willing to do whatever it takes to win. We have had enough of that in politics."