When Sen. Lincoln Chafee and Republican primary challenger Steve Laffey stood side by side for an hour-long radio debate on Thursday, the atmosphere was frigid, and it wasn't because of the air conditioning in the 920 WHJJ studio.

The contempt between the two men was palpable. Before and after the program and during two breaks there was virtually no chitchat. Their dialogue during the broadcast of the Arlene Violet Show crackled.

You think of Laffey as the more combative and flashy. But on this occasion it was Chafee -- faced with the real prospect of losing a Senate seat that once seemed his for life -- who was the more aggressive and more animated. He was smoldering over months of attacks from the Cranston mayor and his Washington-based ally, the conservative, pro-tax-cut Club for Growth, and determined to rock Laffey back on his heels and steer the campaign into issues of electability, character, style and ability to get things done.

It was a theme Chafee would underscore on Friday with the debut of a tough new TV commercial, entitled "Bully," that uses images of and words from Laffey to paint him as confrontational and insensitive, and dubbing him "the wrong voice for Rhode Island in the Senate."

Chafee campaign manager Ian Lang said the spot, coupled with positive Chafee advertising on the air in recent days, was meant to contrast the two candidates -- the "thoughtful" Chafee who "reaches out" versus the "polarizing," "over the top" Laffey.

It's a riveting commercial, but, of course, it's also confrontational and polarizing, arguably contradicting the warm spirit of the earlier advertising, and Laffey press secretary Nachama Soloveichik pounded away. She accused Chafee of "character assassination" and asserted, "It's a disgrace, and Lincoln Chafee is not fit to be in the U.S. Senate."

At Thursday's debate, the first of four in the campaign, almost the first words out of Chafee's mouth were that Sept. 12 primary voters have to consider which GOP candidate can win in November and who can best represent Rhode Islanders. "I've represented them with courage, with honesty, and a proven ability to get along with others."

Time and again he expressed exasperation at being hammered by Laffey and the Club for Growth. Afterward, Chafee groused to me that the attacks on him, especially from the club, had been distorting his record and "driving up my negatives, hurting my chances in the general."

Of course, over the months, there's been no shortage of ads and other salvos from Chafee and, early on, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, strafing Laffey. When I heard Chafee complain that the attacks on him had hurt his chances in November, it reminded me of the inclination of incumbents, no matter their background, to confuse themselves with the office they hold. How dare someone come along and try to take it away from them.

You might call it a sense of political entitlement, but it is different from the kind of class warfare Laffey, the son of a tool maker, wages against Chafee, the son of a senator. And that dynamic was very evident at WHJJ. It first surfaced when Laffey, fielding a question about immigrants, said, "I do empathize with people who struggle every day, because I struggled growing up . . . but we can only accept so many people at one time."

Now Violet asked about vouchers to help students go to private school. Chafee said, "No, Arlene, I'm a firm believer in our public education system." He said vouchers would undermine public schools by draining off the best and brightest youngsters.

Laffey said that, "as the only candidate who's a graduate of public schools and the only candidate who has any kids in public schools," he took exception. "Mr. Chafee has a lot of money and he's able to send his kids to the best schools. I would like every kid to have a chance."

Laffey, a Cranston East alumnus, spoke so passionately and at such length about public schools that his passing mention that one of his kids goes to La Salle might have slipped by you.

Chafee said, "I did go to public school through seventh grade." He transferred to Providence Country Day and graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover. "And my children have attended public schools. And by virtue of my position on vouchers I think I'm more of an advocate for public schools. And I'd also like to make a statement: If you don't bring up my family, I won't bring up yours, Mayor Laffey."

Laffey, who made big bucks in high finance, sort of rolled his eyes -- I can't quite describe it, but he looked as if he were doing a cost-benefit analysis, trying to figure out if such a deal would be to his advantage.

Chafee's line sounded terrific -- in your face and so on -- but it also was kind of weird, like what's there to say about Laffey's family anyway? They seem like nice people. Outside the studio I ran into the mayor's wife, Kelly, who was holding their youngest child, Jessica, who was celebrating her first birthday. (Chafee told me later, "I don't want to talk about families. . . . I want to talk about the issues." He said class warfare is not productive.)

There were several references in the debate to the war in Iraq, which Laffey backs and Chafee opposes. Laffey is good at deflecting attention from controversial stands. This time, while not retreating from his support of the war, he managed to distance himself somewhat by calling for the resignation of Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld.

Interestingly, Chafee, so often critical of George Bush, whom Laffey embraces, said it was up to the president to decide Rumsfeld's future.

Then again, it is Chafee, the moderate, the guy with the maverick voting record, who portrays himself as, in a sense, the more regular Republican in the race. He said he works with GOP leaders and is able to deliver for Rhode Island. He wants you to believe Laffey is unable to get along with anybody.

And while conservative Laffey is more in tune than Chafee is with Republican views on the war, tax cuts and abortion, the mayor used the debate once again as a vehicle for picturing both parties as virtually irrelevant. "The special interests are really in control down in Washington," he declared.

Laffey said later that he enjoyed the debate and would love to see hourlong sessions devoted to single topics to highlight nuances. "There are very big differences between the two of us," Laffey said. "He's going to stay with sort of the personal attacks and I'm going to stay with the real big issues."

Meanwhile, Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse is poised to take on the Republican primary winner in the general election.

The former attorney general's TV spots, strongly anti-Bush and produced by consultant Mike Donilon, who grew up in Rhode Island, are very impressive, and two new ones, focusing on the war, are a sign of Whitehouse's intention to press the war issue.

One of the new ads is especially powerful. In it, Whitehouse says:

"Mothers have come up to me, and they have told me that when their child was sent over to Iraq they had to go shopping for body armor for their kids.

"When we have a United States government that we can't count on to provide adequate body armor for our children, and mothers have to do that, it is time to change the way things are done in Washington."

The ad might resonate even if you're thinking the antiwar Chafee will be the GOP nominee. When you finish watching this spot, you may say, "This is sick -- Bush and the Republican Congress really have made a mess of things. We need a new team down there."

I spoke with Whitehouse Thursday night after Chafee and Laffey slapped each other around on issue after issue.

Whitehouse said, "Ultimately, it doesn't really matter who comes out of the Republican primary." Whoever it is, he said, would vote to support GOP control of the Senate. Either one, he said, would be "a force against change and not for change."

Whitehouse said, "There's a power struggle in Washington and they want to maintain the status quo, both of them."

That's not how Chafee or Laffey would put it, of course, but then that's why there are campaign debates, in the primary and in the general.

You can hear Chafee and Laffey again at 5 p.m. Thursday, this time with Dan Yorke on WPRO. Then they go prime time on TV: Channel 12, 8 p.m., Aug. 23; Channel 10, 7 p.m., Aug. 24.

The whole country is watching the race for this Senate seat. You should tune in.

Tuesday's column: Thoughts about the race in Connecticut.

M. Charles Bakst is The Journal's political columnist.

mbakst@projo.com / (401) 277-7638