Sen. John Ensign, left, and his Democratic challenger, Jack Carter, take part in a televised debate on Monday at Reno City Hall. Photo by The Associated Press John Ensign Jack Carter

RENO -- Democratic challenger Jack Carter continued to hammer out the theme Monday night that U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., backs a failed war strategy in Iraq and votes with President Bush 96 percent of the time.

Ensign countered that America needs to win the war in Iraq and contended Carter, a four-year Las Vegas resident, does not understand Nevada issues and said the state needs "Nevada leaders who understand Nevadans."

The hour-long debate between the two in Reno City Hall was broadcast in Reno and Las Vegas.

Unlike other political debates this fall, theirs was a polite, gentlemanly affair before a small audience that kept quiet until it was over.

Carter cracked the only joke of the night when he said even husbands and wives do not agree as much as Ensign does with his votes for Bush.

He also made the only interruption of the evening after Ensign asked the crowd to remember who it was in the 1970s who ended the nuclear waste breeder reactor programs. Those programs were aimed at developing ways to recycle nuclear waste, and had they been successful, Yucca Mountain would not have wound up being designated as the nation's nuclear dumpsite.

It was Jack Carter's father, President Jimmy Carter, who ended the breeder reactor program.

"I don't agree with everything he did," Jack Carter declared.

The younger Carter, who holds a degree in nuclear physics, said the final solution to keeping nuclear waste out of Nevada's Yucca Mountain is reprocessing nuclear waste at the nuclear plant sites.

Throughout the debate, Ensign worked to turn his record in office to his advantage. He repeatedly pointed out he has worked with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to bring $3 billion in public land sale receipts to Nevada, along with $300 million to preserve Lake Tahoe and a veterans hospital that is coming to Las Vegas.

"I have worked across party lines with Harry Reid," Ensign said. "Whoever has the best idea, let's get it done before we serve the interests our of party. Look at my record."

But as in all debates in recent weeks, this one centered on the war in Iraq and the ever-increasing number of U.S. military members who have been killed there.

Ensign appealed for Nevadans to persevere until America can win the war.

"We need to come together as Americans. Iraq is just one front in this global war against Islamic fascism. A lot of Americans don't understand we are at war. If we cut and run, they are not going to stop. They will see it as a sign of weakness."

Carter contended the war has created more Islamic fascists than existed when it began. He said the failed policy in Iraq has spawned failed Bush administration policies in Iran, Lebanon and North Korea.

"President Johnson called the family of every casualty in Vietnam," Carter said. "We never see pictures of this president going to hospitals to see disabled veterans."

That comment prompted the most heated response from Ensign. He said he has been with the president when he visited soldiers in hospitals. Bush doesn't make a "public relations stunt" out of those visits, Ensign said.

Carter said the best thing for American foreign policy would be a "change in administration." He said the United States must rely more on diplomacy than pre-emptive first strikes.

Although he remained calm, Carter clearly was unsettled by a recent Ensign TV ad that portrays him as a carpetbagger who has moved to Bermuda, Chicago, Georgia and other places during his life.

Carter used his closing comments to respond to the advertisement. He said that if he is a carpetbagger, then so are the 80 percent of Nevadans who have moved to the state from elsewhere.

He and his wife could have selected any place in the country in which to live, Carter said, but they chose Las Vegas because of the people and climate, and it is where they intend to spend the rest of their lives, he said.

"The surprising thing we discovered was the libertarian bent we have in this state," Carter said. He said he shares that bent and because of it will win the election Nov. 7.

Polls, however, have indicated that he is running 12 to 23 percentage points behind Ensign.