The newspaper ad from 1990 shows Bristol County District Attorney candidate Paul Walsh promising, if elected, that he "will stop the practice of plea bargaining with drug traffickers. I will never offer a deal to a drug trafficker."

Now, fast-forward to last Tuesday. Walsh has been the district attorney for 16 years, and his first challenger, Samuel Sutter, is standing outside the Attleboro police station flashing that ad, contending that Walsh broke that pledge as soon as he took the job.

Of the 11 biggest drug cases between 2002 and last year, seven were settled by plea bargain and three were lost.

Later that day, Walsh issues this response: "The prison population in Bristol County has more than doubled since District Attorney Walsh came into office, largely because of his prosecution of drug-related offenses."

It's just another day in a race that's clearly been the most interesting area contest in this election season.

The candidates have had four major debates -- all of them spirited.

Sutter, a 54-year-old lawyer who used to be one of Walsh's assistant district attorneys, hasn't been shy about Walsh's alleged shortcomings, accusing the district attorney of not being aggressive enough in going after murderers and drug dealers.

He's offered specific solutions to the problems, such as invoking provisions in state law designed to keep dangerous offenders behind bars until their trial, doing the type of electronic surveillance that Walsh's office stopped doing years ago, and working more closely with police departments.

Walsh, 52, who surprised everyone when he defeated Ronald Pina by a 2-to-1 margin in the 1990 race, hasn't taken any of this sitting down.

He cites his commitment to the job, accuses Sutter of having outdated ideas of law enforcement, and loves to cite examples where, he asserts, Sutter says one thing and does another.

The plea-bargain controversy is the best illustration.

Sutter has promised to throttle back on deals that let offenders get off with lower sentences.

Walsh says Sutter plea bargained like mad while he was an assistant district attorney.

Sutter says that's because he was following Walsh's policy.

In fact, one reason Walsh was elected was because his predecessor had a huge backlog of cases, which Walsh thinned down by cutting deals.

Walsh has an advantage in that many Bristol County residents know his name, both because of his 16-year tenure and the fact that he has more and bigger signs scattered around the county.

Sutter, working on a smaller budget, is not as well known, at least to the public.

Police departments can't endorse candidates. But Walsh, in announcing an endorsement from the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, said last week that "the support from rank and file [police] officers on the street has been overwhelming."

Sutter, in essence, says that same thing. In fact, 10 of the unions representing rank-and-file police officers in the county -- including New Bedford, Attleboro and Taunton -- have shunned Walsh and thrown their support to Sutter, saying Walsh micromanages cases so much they don't get prosecuted.

Perhaps the most volatile issue in the campaign has been the case of David Smith, the Taunton police officer who was accused of repeatedly sexually abusing his 9-year-old foster daughter.

Walsh gave Smith a plea deal that let the officer avoid a formal conviction. Walsh has defended the bargain, saying a deal was necessary because the girl recanted her story and would not have withstood the stress of testifying.

Sutter has called that deal "appalling," because Smith had confessed to the multiple sexual assaults and young victims always need to be coaxed to testify.

"Now [Smith] has no conviction. He doesn't have to register as a sex offender. He did six months in the House of Corrections, but he should have done five to ten years in state prison," said Sutter.

Walsh said he faced a choice between "a horrible decision" (taking the case to trial where a loss would have meant that Smith would get his stepdaughter and his job back) and "a bad decision" (cutting a deal).

Whoever wins Tuesday's Democratic primary has the job. There will be no Republican opponent in November.

Both candidates have Web sites that outline their positions and even show video from their debates. However, only Sutter's video clips show the full debates. Walsh has eliminated many of Sutter's comments. Walsh's site is www.walsh2006.com. Sutter's site is www.tellsamsutter.com.