COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The only debate featuring all four Missouri candidates for the U.S. Senate yielded the most wide-ranging discussion of issues in the campaign to date on Thursday.

While homeland security and other subjects that have been high-profile issues for U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan, a Democrat, and Republican challenger Jim Talent were addressed, the candidates also answered questions on less-discussed topics such as judicial appointments and slavery reparations.

Unlike the first Senate debate on Monday in which Carnahan and Talent went head-to-head in a television studio with no audience, Libertarian Tamara Millay and Green Party hopeful Daniel "Digger" Romano were included in Thursday's forum in a packed Columbia College auditorium. That venue and a tighter format made for a much different debate, which will be the last of the campaign.

With only one minute to answer questions asked by a panel of journalists and no opportunity for rebuttal, the candidates largely stuck to explaining their positions with little time to attack the views of their opponents.

Patriotism issue

Carnahan, however, was aggressive on a couple of occasions, most notably when she sternly wagged her finger at Talent and accused him of questioning her patriotism and intentionally misrepresenting her record on homeland security and national defense.

"I resent being told that I'm unpatriotic by my opponent. ... I would not doubt your patriotism, nor would I doubt the patriotism of any member of the United States Senate."

Talent sat silently, frowned, but reserved his response until he was questioned later about the most inaccurate statements made during the Senate campaign.

"The most inaccurate statement about me so far in the election is that I'm questioning somebody's patriotism, or even their motives, when I'm talking about their votes," Talent said.

He listed seven votes on which he said Carnahan opposed Bush's agenda, including drilling in Alaska, Bush's proposed estate tax repeal and the confirmation of Republican former Sen. John Ashcroft as U.S. attorney general.

Carnahan insisted she has been 100 percent behind Bush's defense plan.

Lighter tone

While not to be dismissed as comic relief, the minor party candidates did help to keep the tone light.

When a question was posed regarding Carnahan's vote against confirming Ashcroft, Millay elicited laughter from the audience. She opined that Ashcroft, as the nation's top law enforcement official, not only has seemed to have misplaced his copy of the U.S. Constitution, but may never have even read it.

Both Millay and Romano said they had no delusions of their chances in November and were in the race to bring attention to issues ignored by the major parties.

On the stalled confirmation of some of President George W. Bush's judicial nominees, Talent said the process in the Democrat-controlled Senate is broken.

"It is the worst record in a generation," Talent said. "If they can't do the little things, how can they do the big things."

Talent said he wouldn't play partisan politics with nominees and would vote to confirm anyone who is competent and honest.

Carnahan said she has supported all of the president's selections that have come up for a vote.

"I think he has the right to put forth nominees that best represent his party," Carnahan said.

Millay and Romano said they would evaluate judicial nominees based on adherence to constitutional principles.

Asked if raising the federal minimum wage would help or hurt Missouri, Carnahan said Republicans have repeatedly opposed such raises for decades. Talent, a former congressman, said his only votes for raising the minimum wage were on bills that also included tax relief for small businesses.

Millay, who favors limited government, said the minimum wage is a bad idea. Romano, who supports programs to help the poor, said the minimum wage isn't enough and that workers should be paid a "living wage" that would lift them above the poverty line.

Search for oil

On the president's proposal to explore for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Talent said it is needed to help limit American reliance on foreign oil, particularly from the volatile Middle East. Carnahan said the country can't drill its way out of oil dependency and called for more federally funded research into alternative energy sources.

Romano said he opposed drilling in the refuge while Millay said protecting the environment should be a priority.

Debate moderator Scott Charton of The Associated Press asked a question submitted by a reader of The Columbia Daily Tribune, a sponsor of the event, regarding the candidates' position on slavery reparations. All said they opposed reparations save Romano, who said he supported cash compensation not only for the descendants of slaves but for American Indians.

Talent was the only candidate who said he supported federal vouchers to help parents pay for private-school tuition, but only for low-income families. The other candidates said they oppose vouchers.

On gun control, Carnahan said she supported the rights of hunters to carry firearms but opposed allowing handguns to fall into the "hands of children and criminals." She also said she supported a ban on assault weapons. The other candidates said they opposed limitations on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.

Questioned about abortion, Carnahan said it was "a precious right of a woman" to decide whether to have one. Talent said he believes "in the dignity and value of every individual life."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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