Candidates in Nevada's Senate race spar

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - In the final debate between Nevada's two major U.S. Senate candidates, former President Carter's son battled accusations he's a carpetbagger, while his rival, GOP Sen. John Ensign (news, bio, voting record), tried to show his independence from the White House on Iraq.

Jack Carter, an investor who moved to Nevada three years ago, said Monday that Ensign is beholden to President Bush because he votes with him 96 percent of the time.

"Senator Ensign represents staying the course, not just staying the course in Iraq but in any every issue the White House tells him to do," said Catre, who is trailing in most polls. "Not because it's good for Nevadans, but because he is subservient to this administration. He has done nothing for the working men and women in this state."

Ensign countered that Carter has collected 84 percent of his campaign contributions from out of state — raising more money in California alone than in Nevada.

"How can you say you want to be Nevada's voice in Washington when almost all of your supporters are from out of state?" the first-term senator asked.

Ensign said his own Nevada roots go back to his boyhood after his great-grandparents settled in the state nearly 100 years ago.

Carter, who grew up in Plains, Ga., said campaign ads attacking him as a carpetbagger are unfairly disparaging. "If I lived here and went to Washington and voted with the administration 96 percent of the time, I might as well be from Texas," he said.

Carter said he and his wife, Elizabeth, moved to Nevada from Bermuda in 2002 because they liked the climate, the outdoor recreation and the affordable housing market.

On other topics, both said they support stem cell research, but Ensign only on adult stem cells — not embryonic cells — because of his concern for "folks who believe life begins at conception."

Ensign said he opposes amnesty for illegals as part of a major immigration bill in Congress but would subsequently work to develop a worker program and believes the most important objective is "to secure our borders."

Carter said establishing a "pathway to citizenship" is most important and the only way to get illegals "out of the shadows."

On Iraq, Ensign said he recognizes some changes need to be made on the ground and that he has been unsuccessful in attempts to persuade the Bush administration to pursue a policy that would give the Iraqi people ownership of that country's oil.

Earlier in the debate, Carter said the Bush administration has a "failed policy in Iraq." He said Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney haven't been seen or photographed greeting disabled veterans.

That drew Ensign's strongest response of the night.

"To say President Bush hasn't visited with the wounded or the families — I've been there when he has done that. He just doesn't make it a public relations stunt like a lot of people," Ensign said. "It is outrageous for my opponent to accuse the president of doing that when he just doesn't know any better."