Comptroller Debate Is Nearly Friendly Frank Franklin Ii/Associated Press Scott Stringer, left, and former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer in a primary debate for New York City comptroller. The two Democratic candidates for New York City comptroller, who for weeks have thrown insults at each other, found something to agree on Thursday night: No, they did not want to sing on network television. The moment came during their third and final debate - a less fierce encounter than their two previous ones - when the moderator, Marcia Kramer of CBS2, asked each candidate during a lightning round to sing "even a few bars" of his favorite song. Scott M. Stringer droned briefly: "We can be heroes. Just for one day. Eliot Spitzer did not even fake it that much. "I am not going to drive your viewers off the TV," he said, before noting that his favorite song was Bruce Springsteen's "Land of Hope and Dreams." When Ms. Kramer pressed him to sing, Mr. Spitzer laughed and shook his head, saying, "Scott and I are in a rare instance of unity." It was a representative moment in a debate marked by both sharp exchanges and sometimes-jarring moments of levity. At times in their previous face-off, Mr. Spitzer, a former governor of New York, had seemed knocked off balance by Mr. Stringer's attacks over the prostitution scandal that forced Mr. Spitzer to resign in 2008. This time, he swatted them away. He managed to turn a question from Mr. Stringer about tax returns to his advantage. Mr. Stringer, referring somewhat loosely to a report in The New York Times revealing that the Spitzer family's charitable foundation has $10 million of investments in funds incorporated in the Cayman Islands, suggested that Mr. Spitzer himself had offshore investments and demanded that he release five years of his tax returns. "They're not my investments," Mr. Spitzer said, explaining that the foundation - started by his mother and his father, the real estate developer Bernard Spitzer - had donated $30 million to educational and cultural institutions. "This is a success story" of "my dad who grew up with nothing, no hot water," he said. "This is not a question about your dad," Mr. Stringer interjected. "You have maligned my dad's foundation," Mr. Spitzer said sternly, before going on to say that the foundation had been audited and "it is pristine; it is perfect." As for his tax returns, Mr. Spitzer - who has allowed members of the news media to view two years of returns at his office - said, "Scott, our first debate, you said the same thing about not having released tax returns, and I said, "No, that's false, come look at them." You haven't shown up. "You said you'd send them to me," Mr. Stringer said, sounding flustered. As in previous debates, Mr. Stringer hammered Mr. Spitzer as untrustworthy and described himself as "a steady hand" who was not "running because I have to clear my name." Mr. Spitzer, meanwhile, boasted repeatedly that, as attorney general, he had stood up to Wall Street and fought for the rights of low-wage workers. He accused Mr. Stringer of joining "the political establishment" in helping lift term limits to allow Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to run for a third term. At one point, one of the questioners, Rich Lamb of WCBS-AM, asked Mr. Stringer if it was fair and accurate for him to accuse Mr. Spitzer of money laundering, even though federal prosecutors had declined to charge him with any crime. "I stand by my statements," Mr. Stringer said. Eliot Spitzer broke many laws. He admitted it himself. In an exchange with potential consequences for the city's coffers, Ms. Kramer asked Mr. Spitzer if, because of his wealth, he would work for $1 a year, as Mr. Bloomberg has. Mr. Spitzer seemed to stall at first, saying that he did not want people to think he was as rich as the mayor. But he ultimately said that he would accept a $1-a-year salary. The debate, held at the CBS studio in Midtown, was likely to be remembered for the odd interludes of comity, some of which ended with a twist. Mr. Lamb asked the candidates if they could each find something nice to say about the another. "Scott and I like each other," Mr. Spitzer said. Mr. Stringer said they would be friends again after the campaign. "We definitely are going to hang out after this," he said. He's going to help baby-sit my two kids. "I'm glad you trust me for that," Mr. Spitzer said with a twinkle in his eye. Mr. Stringer's wife, perhaps sensing that her husband had committed a gaffe, quickly fired off a barbed message on Twitter. "Not with my kids," she wrote.