FORT WAYNE — Jill Long Thompson and Jim Schellinger traded jabs at each other while they squared off on the state economy, taxes, health care and other issues Tuesday night in what may be the Democratic gubernatorial candidates' only formal debate before the May 6 primary.

While they were at it, they took shots at Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who is seeking a second term and faces no primary opponent. They especially criticized his efforts to privatize parts of state government, but Schellinger swiped him with a broader brush in his opening statement.

Schellinger, president of the Indianapolis firm CSO Architects, said Daniels had displayed "arrogant leadership that is completely out of touch with the challenges and the problems we face every day as Hoosiers."

The candidates also exchanged some swipes at each other.

Long Thompson questioned the ethics of Schellinger and three of his business partners for forming a limited liability company called Trident Air and spending $60,000 in in-kind contributions for campaign air travel. She also said his company had lobbied for work on school projects that increased property taxes.

Schellinger said Trident Air and his use of it was completely legal, and said Long Thompson had misstated the facts about lobbying for school projects. He said afterward that she used the forum as an avenue for attacks, but she said the event was positive.

Schellinger and Long Thompson, who represented northeast Indiana in Congress from 1989 to early 1995, are vying to take on Daniels in the general election. He faces no primary opponent and has a large fundraising advantage, but polls have shown him as being vulnerable.

A statewide poll of 400 likely Democratic primary voters released early this month showed the race between Schellinger and Long Thompson running about even. Forty-two percent said they would vote for Long Thompson and 41 percent favored Schellinger. That was within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Although Schellinger began the year with a fundraising advantage, campaign finance reports released Tuesday showed the Democrats raising fairly close to the same amount for this year's first quarter — about $511,000 for Schellinger to about $470,000 for Long Thompson. Both are running television commercials.

The one-hour debate was held at Rhinehart Music Center on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne and was televised by WISE-TV in the Fort Wayne area. The campaigns have been unable to agree on arrangements for further debates.

Schellinger repeatedly stressed his humble beginnings as the sixth of eight children who grew up in South Bend and worked nights at a tool and die shop to put himself through the University of Notre Dame. He has never run for public office, and said his record as a successful businessmen included an ability to build consensus.

Long Thompson noted that she had grown up on a farm, and repeatedly said that as a congresswoman she never voted for a tax increase on voters or a pay increase for herself.

The questions came from audience members through a moderator and from a panel of journalists, and the first asked about their stance on abortion rights. Long Thompson said it was a decision that was best left to the individual and that Roe V. Wade should be upheld.

Schellinger responded by saying, "My faith teaches me that abortion is wrong but my faith is not necessarily the faith shared by everyone throughout our state." He added that he would not seek to change current laws.

On the economy, Schellinger touted his plan to help improve job skills and create an office to help promote growth of small businesses and help them provide health insurance to workers. Long Thompson said she would take a different approach, one that would revamp the state's tax structure to attract businesses.

On government reform, both mentioned a bipartisan commission appointed by Daniels that has recommended 27 ways of restructuring local government. Long Thompson said one she particularly liked was that only bodies that are elected should be able to raise taxes.

"I think it's important that anyone who has authority to do that should have direct accountability to do that," she said.

Schellinger said Indiana should look at restructuring at both the state and local level, and on the latter there was no one-size-fits all approach.

On gasoline prices, Long Thompson touted her plan to cap the sales tax on gasoline at any price topping $2.75 per gallon. Schellinger questioned the possible $100 million hit the state finances would take from that and said a more comprehensive approach was needed at the federal and state level.

"We have to make responsible decisions and not knee-jerk decisions in an election year to try to win voters over," he said.

One of the sharpest exchanges came when Long Thompson said Schellinger's architecture firm had lobbied for more than $500 million in property tax increases for public school projects. Schellinger said she was misstating facts.

"This is where I'm supposed to come back at my opponent," he said. "This is where I'm supposed to point our her voting record and specifics that have hurt Hoosiers, but I'm not going to go there."

He said Indiana already has a governor that has polarized the state and needed one to pull people together.

He said afterward that his firm has talked to local officials about school projects, but has not lobbied for them.