The debate, broadcast live and before a studio audience, marked one of a handful of times that one-term Republican Rob Bishop and Democratic challenger Steve Thompson will square off this election season.

Both have been criticized for mounting lackluster campaigns. But on Tuesday, they dug into a broad range of issues, disagreeing mostly on practice, not principle.

Saving Hill AFB from closure ranks at the top of both candidates' priority lists. Bishop's strategy is to expand activities at the Utah Test and Training Range and Dugway Proving Ground in Tooele to ensure that Utah stays on the Department of Defense's map.

Thompson, a Logan City councilman, emphasized the role that cities and counties play by investing in the "infrastructure" - schools and community centers - that keep the Roy community thriving.

They also agree that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) isn't working in Utah.

Bishop, a former teacher, wasn't in Congress when President Bush's education reform package was approved, but said he would have voted against it.

"If you want to reform education, you need parental choice, not high-stakes tests administered by bureaucrats in Washington or Utah," Bishop said.

Thompson, a small businessman, criticized the Republican Congress that passed NCLB for taking control away from "our teachers and administrators who know best" and then failing to fund the reform.

Doing so forced state lawmakers to ante up resources by raiding other budgets, Thompson said.

The exchange grew heated when an audience-member asked candidates what they will do to prevent the temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel rods at the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation.

Thompson saw the question as an opportunity to slam Bishop for proposing a change in the law that would have allowed Envirocare of Utah to dispose of more highly radioactive material than it now accepts. Bishop once lobbied for Envirocare at the state Legislature.

"That's bad government. We ought to send [Bishop] back to Brigham City to teach school," said Thompson, who believes Republicans and Democrats need to come to a bipartisan agreement on what to do with radioactive and nuclear waste.

Bishop opted against rebutting Thompson's remarks, choosing to "stick to the question" and tout his bill, which seeks to establish a wilderness area in Utah's west desert, thereby blocking a rail line needed to deliver waste to the reservation.