The two candidates for Senate squared off in Baton Rouge Sunday in the second of four debates, and neither could wait to trade barbs in a campaign that has been filled with attacks.

Senator Mary Landrieu, who is seeking a third term, told voters that seniority matters in Washington, while State Treasurer John Kennedy reiterated that the incumbent is part of the larger problem in the nation’s capitol.

Landrieu kept to her campaign strategy, pointing out John Kennedy's party switch from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in August 2007. She says he's unclear on most issues, like her health care plan.

“Mr. Kennedy doesn’t understand my plan, and he is very confused about many things in this race,” Sen. Landrieu said. “He’s also confused about his record. He ran as a democrat for this position, claiming he was the only true democrat in that race. And now he’s trying to convince everyone – with not much success – that he’s a conservative.”

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State Treasurer John Kennedy

Kennedy tried to use his support of presidential nominee John McCain as a plus. It’s an endorsement that could gain him support from voters who reside in a state that is expected to side with the Republican nominee. Landrieu, though, responded by bringing up a different endorsement, this time from four years ago.

“My opponent continue to refers to John McCain and Barack Obama, but this race is between the two of us. He’s a candidate who claims to be a conservative, but four years ago he supported Senator Kerry,” Landrieu said.

But the focus of a large part of the debate was the economy and the large deficit facing the federal government. Kennedy blasted the $700 billion bailout plan passed in Congress earlier this month, while Landrieu pointed out that she voted against the bill.

It was one of the few points in the debate where the two seemed to be on the same page, as both said the plan did not offer protection for taxpayers and was a colossal sum to digest.

Kennedy said a solution would be to suspend accounting rules that industry insiders blame for catalyzing the crisis, and he added that there should be a partially public corporation that would buy bad mortgages from banks with stocks, rather than money from taxpayers.

"We don't have to nationalize our entire banking system,” Kennedy said. “This is not Russia.”

Landrieu said she backs loans that are guaranteed by the government, and she stood beside the Bush administration’s plan to use tax dollars to buy stocks in banks in an effort to solidify the financial system.

“With all due respect to Mary, this is why people hate Washington,” Kennedy said. “You can talk about trigger mechanisms and the Dorgan Landrieu amendment, but the bottom line is this: families have to balance their budgets. They can’t spend more than they take it. Businesses have to do it. State governments have to do it. Why can't federal government have to do it?”

Landrieu tried to cast aside concerns that she, too, was an extravagant spender, and she tried to push an image of herself a fiscally conservative Senator who wouldn’t be afraid to bring out the pen to slash out outlandish spending.

“I am not completely without fault, but I most certainly have served the people of this state with a balanced budget in mind, line-item veto, and using good, solid fiscal policies,” Landrieu said.

While both were in agreement over their dissaproval of the bailout plan, the two diverged on healthcare. Landrieu said that health insurance is a right, while Kennedy said that it was a responsibility.

Kennedy suggested a $5000 tax credit for homeowners that could be used to cover health insurance premiums, an idea that closely mirrors McCain’s proposal that would cover the same amount.

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Senator Mary Landrieu.

Landrieu, who stopped short of backing nationalized health insurance, said she wanted to give citizens the same health care coverage that members of Congress receive. Citizens would buy into a government-backed health insurance system.

Kennedy frequently painted Landrieu as a Washington insider and as part of the problem in the nation's capital, saying that she has been labeled one of the most corrupt members of Congress by Citizens with Responsibilities and Ethics for Washington in 2008.

And that was a move Kennedy made often in the debate, constantly shifting his message back to the problems in Washington as the nation deals with a crippled economy, constricting credit crunch and high gas prices.

“Here's Congress’s energy policy: They prohibit us from drilling for American oil and gas in Alaska, in the OCS, out west in Colorado, Wyoming. So we’ll be forced to buy oil from countries who hate us, so those countries who hate us will have money to go buy weapons to try to kill us,” Kennedy said. “Washington is broken folks. It’s in the ditch.”

Landrieu, though, considers her 12-years of experience in the Senate an asset, and frequently pointed out that she has often worked both sides of the aisle.

“One of the things that is working in Washington is bi-partisan leadership,” Landrieu said. “And I’ve been proud to be part of many significant bi-partisan efforts. One, the Gang of 14, helped to keep the Senate on track as we pressed forward."

Both tiptoed along party lines when asked about their stance on foreign policy. Kennedy was for a relatively aggressive policy, framing Iran as a dangerous threat. He said that he would support a pre-emptive strike “if the threat’s sufficient,” and said that it was vital troops remained to occupy Iraq so that Iran would not be able to go in and control the area, and therefore, he says, the Middle East.

"I don't care what the CIA says or doesn't say, I believe Iran has nuclear weapons," Kennedy said. "We are facing a nuclear threat unlike any we've ever seen since the Cold War."

Landrieu didn't address whether or not she would support a pre-emptive strike, but she did go back several years to when she voted in support for the war, which she now says was a wrong decision. She said she wouldn’t have voted for the bill had she known Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction.

But it was a war that Louisianans have been fighting for years that sparked a few spirited attacks: the state’s battle with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for funds and appropriations.

Kennedy pointed out that Landrieu is the chairwoman of the homeland security subcommittee that oversees FEMA, an organization that he says was woefully insufficient following the devastation that Hurricane Katrina left in 2005. He said she had the power to force widespread changes with her assignment but failed to do so.

"There's not a single solitary person in Washington D.C., not one, that has more control over FEMA than Sen. Landrieu," he said.

Landrieu said that she has worked to improve the city’s bureaucracy and pointed to the improved response following Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

Both agreed that the response by state and local governments was much better for Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

Channel Four is partnering with a network of television stations across Louisiana to present the final live debate, which will be moderated by WWLTV news anchor Dennis Woltering.

The Campaign 2008 special airs Oct. 22 at 7 p.m.

To submit your questions to the candidates, click here.

The third debate will take place Wednesday and will be broadcast live in New Orleans on WDSU.

Lee Zurik contributed to this report