WARWICK -- While Democratic challenger Sheldon Whitehouse tried again and again last night to frame the Rhode Island Senate as a referendum on President Bush and the national GOP, Republican incumbent Lincoln D. Chafee hammered away at Whitehouse’s own record as the state’s top prosecutor during their first live TV debate.

They wrangled over who was more opposed to the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq war, who was responsible for the gap in Medicare prescription-drug coverage — Republicans or Democrats, and which party is more likely to come up with a palatable solution to the looming Social Security crisis. If Whitehouse were elected, Chafee said he would go to Washington as “a backbencher, just fall into the vast pool of go-along, get-alongs.” But Whitehouse said Chafee’s allegiance to the Republican leadership would only perpetuate what he, in a previous radio debate, called the “accountability-free zone” in Washington.

Throwing back at Chafee a charge that Chafee has repeatedly leveled at his own performance as attorney general — “willful blindness,” Whitehouse said: “Let’s talk about Iraq and [the] willful blindness of a Republican Senate that won’t investigate anything, won’t demand accountability and won’t get our troops home.”

He tacitly acknowledged, however, in response to a question from the panel that he never subpoenaed witnesses, took sworn statements or convened a grand jury to try to get to the truth of the allegations of wrong-doing by Roger Williams Medical Center president Robert Urciuoli that the doctors at the hospital brought to him in 1999.

Urciuoli was convicted last week in federal court of charges stemming from his role in an influence-peddling scandal involving camouflaged payments to former state Sen. John A. Celona.

Said Chafee: “Mr. Whitehouse never successfully prosecuted a single political figure;” even when told of corruption at Roger Williams, “He did nothing.”

The response? “The senator is suggesting I am soft on public corruption. I hate public corruption,” said Whitehouse, insisting he had spent a “career actively trying to combat it.”

And they were off during a lively but relatively tame hour-long debate, co-sponsored by The Providence Journal, on Channel 12 (WPRI).

The stakes are high and the race close. And little new ground was covered, though the debate at Toll Gate High School in Warwick gave prime-time viewers a chance to see and hear the back-and-forth that had previously played out on afternoon radio.

Whitehouse leads Chafee by a narrow 46 percent to 42 percent with a significant number of likely voters — 12 percent — still undecided, according to a new poll that Fleming & Associates conducted for Channel 12.

The survey of 402 registered voters was conducted from Oct. 11-14. Whitehouse’s apparent edge is within the potential 4-percent to 5-percent margin of error.

On Social Security, Whitehouse tried to link Chafee to GOP efforts to scale back the growth in future benefits and rely on Wall Street investments to shore up the benefit fund.

Whitehouse said he would oppose both efforts, while supporting efforts to raise the amount of income subject to Social Security taxes. “The senator is still talking about cutting Social Security benefits. I think that’s wrong,” he said.

But Chafee said he supports neither and accused Whitehouse of misrepresenting his position in an effort to scare seniors.

Whitehouse insisted what “Senator Chafee has just said simply isn’t true.” But Chafee said he has not endorsed any specific plan.

On the coverage gap in the Medicare prescription drug plan after $3,600 in out-of-pocket expenses, Whitehouse blamed Chafee — who ultimately voted against the bill — for casting a “make-or-break” procedural vote to allow the bill to reach the floor.

While Democrats are now trying to make political hay of the so-called doughnut hole, Chafee said lawmakers had been afraid to keep the bill off the floor for fear of angering seniors.

With respect to Iraq, Chafee said he took a “courageous” vote against the war in 2002 and accused Whitehouse of “flip-flopping” for and then against a mandatory timetable for troop withdrawal.

Whitehouse said the United States needs to first announce its intention to pull out, denied that he has been inconsistent, faulted Chafee for not joining him in calling for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation, and drew attention to two $1,000 contributions Chafee has gotten from the political arm of defense contractor Halliburton.

 Asked who he had stood up to in his own career, Whitehouse cited his long-standing support for a separation of powers amendment to the state Constitution opposed by Democratic leaders at the Rhode Island State House. “I think I paid a price for that,” said Whitehouse, suggesting it “probably cost me the endorsement when I ran for governor” in ’02. He also cited his role in launching the state’s landmark case against lead-paint manufacturers. “I did something that no other attorney general in the country had the courage to do.”

But Chafee said: “Probably the same time he was gathering around all his lawyers to pursue this for his political career’s advantage, the doctors from Roger Williams were coming to him with the facts, the evidence and the law that crimes were committed and he said no … I don’t care about what’s happening here in Rhode Island. I care about my own political career.”

The first lead-paint trial ended in a mistrial while Whitehouse was attorney general; his successor, Patrick J. Lynch, won the case in a second trial.

Asked what mistake he most regretted, Whitehouse said: not doing more to reform the state’s witness-protection program. During his tenure, the state’s star witness in a murder trial, 15-year-old Jennifer Riviera, was murdered days before she was slated to testify. Whitehouse said her mother has since told him she forgives and supports him.  After the debate, with the lights still hot, Chafee and Whitehouse were asked to rate their performances. Both said they had done well.

“I had a few little mistakes here and there but overall I drove home the points that I think are important,” Chafee said. “It’s a review of our record and I’m proud of my record and more than willing to point out some failings in my opponent’s record.”

Said Whitehouse: “I think we did fine. I think the key here is to honor the seriousness of Rhode Island voters about the problems that Republican leadership is presenting to them and to talk about real solutions. And I think I had plenty of time to do that and I think it was a very helpful debate.”

Asked the obligatory question of who won, Whitehouse said:

“I think the public won. I think we had a good exchange of views and I think people were better informed as to what the candidates’ positions are.”

Chafee was less modest, taking the opportunity to slam Whitehouse once more on the Roger Williams corruption case:

“I won because Mr. Whitehouse couldn’t defend his record as attorney general. He couldn’t answer the key question that I’ve been asking over and over again, and once again here: ‘Who did you mean by the hospital?’ That’s a key part of his defense as to why he didn’t prosecute: ‘The hospital didn’t want to go forward criminally.’ Yet he can’t answer a simple question.”

kgregg@projo.com (401) 277-7078