Democratic Congressman Tim Walz of Mankato and Republican challenger Brian Davis of Rochester disagreed repeatedly on issues ranging from federal regulation of the marketplace to drilling for oil in the Alaskan wilderness during a 90-minute debate in Mankato Monday.

Walz, a former school teacher running for a second term in the U.S. House, and Davis, a Mayo Clinic doctor making his first attempt at public office, disagreed — almost always politely. But the audience of about 400 at Minnesota State University saw clear differences on a multitude of issues between the two major candidates in southern Minnesota’s 1st District.

Davis was unabashedly conservative, making repeated references to his Republican Party endorsement and calling for everything from a return to God and religion in schools to a partial privatization of Social Security.

“The 1st District tends to be more conservative than most places,” said Davis, who suggested that Walz is too liberal for the district. “It tends to want lower taxes, smaller government, more conservative values. It tends to look skeptically toward a government that wants to spend $700 billion in tax dollars to bail out bad policy. These are the values I respect.”

Walz struck themes similar to those that helped him topple 12-year-incumbent Republican Congressman Gil Gutknecht in 2006, becoming just the second Democrat in a century to represent the 1st District.

“What I told you I would do is I would go to Congress and I would support — and would make sure I was representing — every person in this district,” said Walz, who promised to follow the example of leaders in American history who also faced serious economic challenges. “.. Every time we’ve had those challenges, something amazing has happened in this country. We’ve been able to transcend politics, rise above it and find solutions.”

But before the candidates made their final pitch to voters in the hall (and to those listening to the rebroadcast on Minnesota Public Radio today), they tackled a long list of questions from the debate moderators and audience members.

The economy>
The nation’s financial crisis dominated early questions from moderators Joe Spear, the editor of The Free Press, and Jim Ragsdale, a long-time political reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Spear ran off a long list of troubling economic indicators including rising inflation, increasing unemployment, falling home values and massive federal deficits, asking the candidates what Congress could do.