Both John Vincent, 61, a retired Bozeman teacher and Gallatin County commissioner, and Brian Schweitzer, a Whitefish farmer, said their No. 1 priority as governor would be education. But they differed over how to pay for better grade schools, high schools, universities and technical colleges.
Vincent said he would roll back cuts in the state's 3 percent business equipment tax, a tax businesses pay on new equipment. He also said he would consider a special sales tax on "big box" stores.
Both men said they favor the right of a woman to choose an abortion and both men favor the death penalty.
They spat a bit over abortion. Vincent said he has a perfect record supporting abortion in his long history in the Montana Legislature. Schweitzer has never held public office, but his running mate, Sen. John Bohlinger, R-Billings, who has served in the Legislature since 1993, has only voted for abortion rights 53 percent of the time, Vincent said.
"We'll protect a woman's right to choose," Schweitzer said in response.
Both men said they believe people who choose to live in the forest should pay a greater cost to defend their homes against forest fires. And both said they favor efforts of five Montana cities to buy the Montana portion of bankrupt NorthWestern Energy's electrical and natural gas transmission system.
In fact, both men agreed on so much - and Schweitzer repeatedly called Vincent "a nice guy" - that one panelist asked Brian Schweitzer why people shouldn't vote for his opponent.
Schweitzer said he has a long history in small business. He has run one and understands that it is "the engine of the Montana economy." Vincent, while a "nice guy," has never been in small business, has "never signed the front a pay check" or taken out a business loan and worked hard to pay it back.
Vincent responded by stressing his long career in the Legislature and saying that government is not just words, a governor must know how to get things done.
About 100 people attended the debate, which was sponsored by the Helena Independent Record and Hometown Helena and held in the Carroll College commons.
Independent Record Editor Dave Shors asked both men how they would help the suffering agricultural sector and the shriveling ag towns of eastern Montana.
Schweitzer said he would push a bill requiring all state vehicles to burn gas mixed with ethanol, a gasoline additive made from grain. That would create a market for ethanol - a value-added agricultural product - while at the same time creating jobs. The byproduct of ethanol is a wet, high-protein cattle feed that would hopefully encourage "ranch-sized" feed lots and small meat-packing plants.
"So Montana can sell T-Bone steaks to the world instead of 650-pound steers," he said.
Vincent said he had reservations about ethanol, adding that it in order to be done effectively, an ethanol plant would have to be built near a railroad.
Asked how religion plays a part in his political decisions, particularly his decision to come out against gay marriage, Schweitzer said he is Catholic and grew up in a Catholic home, but his allegiance "isn't to the Pope in Italy" as evidenced by his stance on abortion. As for gay marriage, Schweitzer said he is among the majority of Montanans who believe "the sate is not in a position to begin offering gay marriage."
Vincent, who did not say his religious orientation, said he "believes in the separation of religion and politics."
The two should be kept separate "as much as possible," Vincent said, adding that the distance between the two is an inherently American and successful idea.
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