Two of the leading candidates to be Egypt's next president squared off in a televised debate on Thursday night in Cairo, and The Lede reported on the clash between Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Amr Moussa, a former diplomat under Hosni Mubarak, as it unfolded. The live video of the event has now ended, but readers can still dip into the stream of updates from Times reporters in Cairo below, and scroll through highlights of the discussion on Twitter in the widget to the right of this post. At the end of what the debate moderator referred to as a "marathon," the two men made their closing arguments, which both featured attacks on the other. As the blogger Mostafa Hussein's transcript shows, Mr. Moussa suggested that the former Muslim Brother spoke like a moderate but his own writing suggests that he might act differently. The Egyptian blogger who writes as The Big Pharaoh noted that Mr. Moussa read a passage from a book by Mr. Aboul Fotouh aloud, in an attempt to scare off voters. Mr. Aboul Fotouh, for his part, said that members of the old regime should not be leading post-revolutionary Egypt. Bassem Sabry, wrapping up his Twitter coverage of the debate - which was sadly hampered for a while by a spell in "Twitter jail" - suggested that Mr. Aboul Fotouh's very brief final handshake with Mr. Moussa was a sign of anger at the personal attacks. In the second half of the debate, Mr. Aboul Fotouh said the military should be stronger - the strongest in the region - and less reliant on "one state," to supply it with weapons, meaning the United States. Both candidates were also asked about the "virginity tests" that soldiers forced on detained female protesters. "I call on each of our daughters who suffered such an insult or other insults, to immediately file a report about it," Mr. Aboul Fotouh said. Mr. Moussa asked, "How does this happen?" and pointed to a broader gender problem in Egyptian society, noting that women are underrepresented in the constitutional assembly. Question: how will the legal position of MB be dealt with, how will the rule on banning religious parties be activated, and how religious minorities will be treated? Asked about his plans for the Muslim Brotherhood - the Islamist group in which he spent his adult life - Mr. Aboul Fotouh said it should have "no special privilege." "The question should be how civil society organizations will be dealt with," he said. All have to work within the law. The Muslim Brotherhood is just like others. If applied as in the West, such an approach could strip the Brotherhood of much of its power, by forcing it to give up institutional control of its political party. Mr. Aboul Fotouh added that he believed parties could have a "religious reference" - whether Muslim or Christian - but should not exclude people of other faiths. Mr. Moussa, in answer to the same question about the Brotherhood, took a more careful approach, perhaps mindful of its popularity. "The Muslim Brotherhood is an important group and it's easy for it to become legal," he said. But he said he was against any party that relied on religion in its platform, because it would guarantee social division. And he tossed a barb back at Mr. Aboul Fotouh: "I hope Dr. Abo El Fotouh had said these things to the religious parties that endorsed him." "Mr. Moussa wants to stand against the majority of the people," Mr. Aboul Fotouh countered, asking how Mr. Moussa would deal with the parliament dominated by what he condemns as "religious parties." Mr. Aboul Fotouh, who spent six years in jail for his political opposition, again challenged Mr. Moussa over his work in the governments of Egypt's dictators, Anwar el Sadat and then Hosni Mubarak. "Sweet talking is easy," Mr. Aboul Fotouh said, charging that the least Mr. Moussa could have done is resign. Nobody asked you to fight or to go to prison like us. The candidates were asked if Israeli is Egypt's enemy and how they would respond to an attack on Iran. Mr. Aboul Fotouh responded with an unequivocal yes, according to the Egyptian blogger who writes as TheMiinz on Twitter. Another activist blogger, Rasha Abdulla, notes that Mr. Aboul Fotouh also pointed to Israel's nuclear arsenal. The Egyptian blogger Dalia Ezzat reports that Mr. Aboul Fotouh suggested that the Camp David peace treaty with Israel should be amended. Bassem Sabry explains that the candidate also said that Egyptians have no problem with Iran, as long as the country makes no attempt to evangelize for Shiite Islam in Egypt. As Rawya Rageh notes, Mr. Moussa said that he would reconsider relations with Israel, calling the status of Jerusalem the main issue of dispute. Pressed by Mr. Aboul Fotouh on not calling Israel an enemy, Mr. Moussa, a career diplomat, suggested that it was best to avoid provocative and "emotional language." Several bloggers also pounced on an apparent slip by Mr. Moussa, who seemed to refer to Iran as "an Arab state." Answering a question whether members of the past government - known as "feloul," or remnants - should be able to hold public office, Mr. Aboul Fotouh says no, because they were silent in the face of injustice. Mr. Moussa, perhaps unsurprisingly for a former foreign minister, says only people who "fell" with the regime, or those legally charged, should be prevented from serving. A commercial break before the final part of the debate, when the questions will turn to relations with Iran and Saudi Arabia. In the meantime, the Egyptian blogger Mostafa Hussein has filed an English translation of the candidates" remarks in the second part of the debate. Before the break, Mr. Moussa stressed Mr. Aboul Fotouh's past membership in the Muslim Brotherhood, suggesting his loyalties, even as president, would be to the Brotherhood's Supreme Guide. Mr. Aboul Fotouh responded by saying: "It seems Mr. Amr Moussa isn't following the news closely, and doesn't know that I have resigned" from the Brotherhood. Then he reminded viewers that in 2010, Mr. Moussa publicly supported Mr. Mubarak as a candidate for president, an endorsement that has led to the frequent charge that Mr. Moussa is a "feloul," or a remnant of the former regime. Mr. Moussa said he supported Mr. Mubarak because he was a better choice than Mr. Mubarak's son, Gamal. As the debate churns on past midnight, the candidates scrap over a question about their personal finances and health. Mr. Aboul Fotouh declares a modest income of about $1,700 a month and good health save for the hypertension and diabetes he attributes to his spells in prison during the Mubarak regime. He came prepared for the questions, holding up documents attesting to both his income and his health. Mr. Moussa said he was "well off within reasonable boundaries," and said he had disclosed his finances to the presidential elections committee. He said his health was fine, and said that if elected, he would provide proof. Mr. Aboul Fotouh interrupted and said his rival hadn't answered the questions. The two men then talked over each other, and the moderator, for some time. The debate has just resumed. Before the break, there was more sparring over religion. In a tussle over the words each candidate uses to describe Islamic law, Mr. Moussa began an attack on his rival, consistent with his efforts to portray himself as a secular alternative to Egypt's Islamists. Accusing Mr. Aboul Fotouh of inconsistencies, Mr. Moussa said: "You're now representing the Salafi front, and at the same time, you represent centrist Islam, and at the same time you talk about freedom." Time runs out before Mr. Aboul Fotouh can answer. There were also sharp exchanges over how much the candidates have spent on their campaigns so far. Mr. Moussa said he has spent roughly a half-million dollars on his campaign (Egyptian law allows candidates to spend $1.6 million). Mr. Aboul Fotouh said his campaign is millions of Egyptian pounds short of what it owes. Both candidates accuse the other of spending too much money, and both raise questions about the money's source. We are now in a 30-minute break between the two rounds. Working with remarkable speed, the Egyptian blogger Mostafa Hussein, or @moftasa, has just published an English translation of the full debate transcript so far. Mr. Moussa is now trying to drive a wedge between Mr. Aboul Fotouh and his conservative religious supporters. Islamic law forbids conversion to other faiths and the Koran even speaks of capital punishment for "apostasy." Under current Egyptian law, it is illegal or, at best, a cumbersome legal process. In the past, however, Mr. Aboul Fotouh, as a reformist leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, has sometimes suggested that religious conversion was a matter of individual choice, troubling many ultraconservative Islamists who now form part of his base of support. In the debate, Mr. Moussa asked Mr. Aboul Fotouh to clarify his views, and he asserted that his past statements had been mischaracterized. He explained that what he said was that Islam protects people's freedom of conscience and quotes a verse: "And who wishes could be a believer, and who wishes could be a nonbeliever." Islam's ruling on apostasy, he said, is that apostates should be called for repentance more than once. Mr. Moussa - perhaps convinced that the damage had been done with the religious conservatives - interrupted saying that this explains it and that he know understands his position. But Mr. Aboul Fotouh continued, asserting that he bases his views on the teachings of Al Azhar, the pre-eminent center of Sunni Muslim scholarship universally respected by Islamists here. Surely Mr. Moussa can respect that. "If Mr. Moussa has a jurisprudence problem, he should refer back to Al Azhar," Mr. Aboul Fotouh said, since he's not a scholar or a jurist himself. It was unclear whether Mr. Aboul Fotouh had successfully wiggled his way around the question. Before the break, the debate turned to face squarely the most polarizing question in Egyptian politics: the relationship between religion, state and citizenship. Both candidates again affirmed their support for the notion that Egypt's laws apply from Islamic principles, but then the emphasis in their answers sharply diverged. Mr. Moussa moved quickly to argue that once that was established Egypt should focus on the requirements of material progress in other areas of life, like industry, agriculture and other things. Teach children the principles of religion, but then teach them the skills that will allow them to compete with their counterparts from other countries. "We should proceed from what we want for Egypt so that it moves forward," he said. Mr. Aboul Fotouh, in contrast, plunged into an argument about the character and meaning of Islamic law but reached similar conclusions. "There's no contradiction between religion and citizenship, or religion and the constitution, or religion and the state," he said. Embedded within Islamic law, he said, was a "purpose-driven ideology," that required the government to work for the interests of its people. "Wherever there's interest, there's God's law," he quoted a prominent scholar. He argued that the news media sometimes attacks Islamic law and distorts its image, but he quoted another scholar: "Islamic law is all mercy; Islamic law is all goodness; Islamic law is all justice and Islamic Law is all work, achievement and prosperity." Finally, he quoted the prophet Muhammad: "Whoever went to bed after eating from the work his hands, will go to bed forgiven." After a very long commercial break, the debate has resumed. Ms. Shazly asked about the future of the military, another highly-charged topic during Egypt's transition.There are fears here that the generals who took power after Hosni Mubarak stepped down will be reluctant submit to civilian authority, unless they receive assurances of immunity from prosecution, and promises that the military's extensive commercial holdings will remain untouched. Both candidates have avoided confronting the military during their campaign. Mr. Moussa suggested they would receive only slightly more oversight than they did under Mr. Mubarak, saying their budget would be scrutinized, but only by a select group of cabinet officials and lawmakers. Mr. Aboul Fotouh also demurred, noting the "professionalism" of the military and saying: "No institution of the state should be above the law." According to the blogger Zeinobia's live debate coverage, Mr. Aboul Fotouh said that the poor management of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has no bearing on the respect the Egyptian people have for the army. It did not take long for the candidates to start mixing it up. Mr. Moussa suggested that Mr. Aboul Fotouh encouraged chaos by turning out for protests. And until when will we continue to call those who express themselves peacefully anarchists? Mr. Aboul Fotouh replied. Mr. Aboul Fotouh then charged Mr. Moussa with complicity with the Mubarak government for which he long worked. How could he now hope to lead the new Egypt? "We are a revolution that broke out against a tyrant regime," he said. "When the regime has fallen, it fell with its men, and I wasn't one of them," Mr. Moussa said. I left the government 10 years ago. That is when Mr. Mubarak transferred him to the appointed post as head of the Arab League, based here. He then fired that at Mr. Aboul Fotouh over his own past affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood. While Mr. Moussa was defending the interests of "the homeland," he said, Mr. Aboul Fotouh fought for the positions of a single group. "You defended the positions of Muslim Brotherhood, not the Egyptian positions," he said, while Mr. Moussa's own goal was "to defend Egypt rather than a group or a party." A Syrian blogger, who writes as HamaEcho on Twitter, notes that viewing the debate from Syria is "sad," given the difference between the outcomes of the two revolutions in Arab countries that together once formed the United Arab Republic. The moderator pressed the candidates on the subject of the seemingly perpetual protests roiling the Egyptian streets, and their responses again painted a sharp contrast. Mr. Moussa stressed firm competence to resolve them: "transparency, determination and good management of the state." Mr. Aboul Fotouh talked of empathy for the people in the streets. When the people feel their president "aches in pain like they do," they would come together behind him, he said. And he called their demands legitimate, asserting that they would not protest if they had what they needed: housing, food, employment. In the second question, Mona el-Shazly asked the candidates how, as president, they would have handled clashes in the Abbaseya neighborhood last week that left at least 13 people dead. Mr. Aboul Fotouh, who suspended his campaign in response to the protests, said they wouldn't have happened under his watch (and he referred, favorably, to the example of British policemen protecting protesters). Mr. Moussa had criticized protesters for marching on the ministry of defense, where the clashes took place. In his answer, he took a dig at Mr. Aboul Fotouh, accusing "some people" of using the violence for political reasons. Mr. Moussa also said he made calls and asked for police intervention, though it is not clear that those calls were heeded: during one day of clashes, the police let the violence rage for 12 hours without intervening. The first question of the debate was about what kind of Egypt each man envisions. Mr. Aboul Fotouh, the professed liberal Islamist, associated himself with the revolution. referring to the martyrs and all that they sacrificed. And said that the new state should honor this revolution. He said the state he dreams of is a democratic state that "holds the values of Shariah and its principles through the purposes of Islamic law," and he hit themes of social justice, about employment and bread and dignity for Egyptians, at home and abroad. The last was a reference to the hundreds of thousands of Egyptian migrant workers, most of them in the Persian Gulf, often working under difficult and discriminatory conditions. Mr. Moussa, the more secular candidate, hit the theme of security as his priority goal. He said it should be a constitutional state. But he, too, moved quickly to establish his support for the Islamic identity. He explicitly pledged to maintain the 30-year-old article of the Egyptian constitution declaring the principles of Islamic law to be its bedrock. But he also stipulated that, in keeping with current practice, those other religions have the right to turn to their own religions in their private affairs. So both candidates affirmed Egypt's Islamic identity. But Mr. Moussa emphasized security, and Mr. Aboul Fotouh social justice. A brief wide shot of the two candidates standing at lecterns next to each other reveals that Mr. Aboul Fotouh seems noticeably taller than Mr. Moussa. In the era of televised debates in the United States, the taller candidate has usually won. George W. Bush being the exception to the rule. As the candidates answer the first question, however, the camera shows them each individually, making the height difference invisible. While Mr. Aboul Fotouh appears stiff, arms held close to his side and hands leaning on his podium, Mr. Moussa appears far more comfortable and animated. The candidates have yet to appear. Before a long, long buildup sequence set to ominous music, the hosts reminded their audience of the auspiciousness of the moment. "Egyptians are a people who never chose a president, a people who never chose their ruler," Ms. Shazli said. "If it weren't for the revolution of the 25th of January, we wouldn't have reached this event at this night," Mr. Fouda added. Welcome to the first presidential debate in the history of Egypt and Arabs. "The judge is you," Ms. Shazli continued. You, the voter, will record your preference and your choice on a small piece of paper that you cast in a transparent box to decide the future of this country. After a long series of commercials, the debate moderators, Mona al-Shazly and Yosri Fouda - Egypt's two most popular talk-show hosts - are on the set at last. Mr. Fouda, a published poet and hero to many activists, recited several times the slogan of the revolution: "Bread, Freedom and Social Justice." Before we see the candidates, though, we are treated to a montage of images from the 2011 revolution. Here is video from Al-Masry Al-Youm showing the technical preparations for the debate. Al-Masry Al-Youm, the Cairo daily that is one of the debate sponsors, reports that Mr. Aboul Fotouh is praying while Mr. Moussa is preparing himself in a private room. The newspaper has posted photographs of the two men backstage on its Twitter feed. The Egyptian blogger who writes as Zeinobia observes on her debate live blog: "A lot of ads before the debate, lots and lots of ads like soccer game." On Twitter, Egyptians are talking about having snacks and making comparisons between the debate and a big soccer match. One blogger suggested that this debate makes up for Egypt not qualifying for the African Cup finals this year. Egyptian television's summary of the high points in televised debate history seems to have reached a climax with this clip of the "Saturday Night Live" parody of the 2008 debate featuring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. Apparently writing from the car bringing Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh to the studio for the debate, Ali El-Bahnasawy reports on Twitter that the candidate has been forced to battle Cairo's notorious traffic to reach the debate site on time. The unfolding drama led the CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman to observe that some forces in Egyptian life are greater than even presidential candidates. As we mentioned earlier, when Mr. Aboul Fotouh was a young activist he publicly challenged Egypt's President Anwar el Sadat over his autocratic control of the state and treatment of a prominent Islamic scholar. Now that he is running for the presidency himself, his campaign is proud enough of that event to use footage of the exchange in a campaign video posted online. Quashing earlier reports that the Muslim Brotherhood's official candidate, Mohamed Morsi, declined to attend this debate, the broadcasters have just explained that Mr. Morsi was not invited. They said that they chose the two candidates who were ahead in the opinion polls, such as they are. The broadcasters also said that they based their debate rules on those of U.S. presidential debates. They then showed footage from the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960, just to set the mood. Perhaps understandably, the broadcasters elected to look back 50 years for their model, rather than start with some of the more recent examples from American television. In a brief recap of the history of televised debates, the Egyptian channels then moved on to an early clash on French television. As Arabic-speaking readers following the live video stream from Egypt's ON TV above will know, the satellite networks broadcasting the Egyptian presidential debate are still warming up for the candidates with a roundtable of newscasters discussing polls and other issues. The candidates are now expected to appear in about an hour, at 9 p.m. local time, 3 p.m. Eastern time. When they do appear, the Cairo daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reports, they will engage in a two-part discussion, moderated by two well-known hosts, Mona al-Shazly and Yosri Fouda. The first half will focus on the candidate's views on the constitution and powers of the presidential office, while the second will address electoral platforms, the judiciary, security and other issues. Each candidate will be given two minutes to answer questions. They will also be allowed to comment on each other's responses, as well as ask their opponent one question at the end of each half of the debate. The Egyptian blogger Bassem Sabry has more details. It turns out that there is an extended introduction to the debate, which is still going on, and there's been no sign of the candidates yet. We will alert readers as soon as it is clear when the main event is expected to begin. In the meantime, Bassem Sabry, an Egyptian blogger and activist, suggests that Amr Moussa has a difficult task, in part because the expectations for his debating abilities are so high. Tonight's debate was delayed by a week, following a violent crackdown on protesters outside the defense ministry in Cairo's Abbasseya Square last week. Virginie Nguyen, a photographer for the English-language news site Egypt Independent, gives her testimony on the events that led to her injury in a video interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm, a Cairo daily, and described her arrest and abuse by Egyptian soldiers after she was injured while photographing clashes at a sit-in near the defense ministry. As we wait for the action to begin, here is a sarcastic rap video that appeared online satirizing the debate. The animated video begins with the moderator asking the audience who they think will be able to embarrass the other more. Mr. Aboul Fotouh avatar starts by saying: "Aboul Fotouh has the mic, everyone, put your hands in the air. Amr, I'll win the presidency, and then I'll teach you what politics is. He then goes on to highlight Mr. Moussa's position as a "Folol," or a remnant of the old regime and mocks the former diplomat's attempts to distance himself from Mr. Mubarak, under whom he served as a cabinet minister for 10 years. The moderator then gives the floor to Mr. Moussa who uses his time to remind Mr. Aboul Fotouh that he used to be a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, highlighting fears that he is secretly running for the Islamist group. Two weeks before Egyptians vote to choose the first president after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, the debate promises to be a decisive moment in the contest. It should illuminate the candidates" answers to the array of historic questions facing the next president, who will oversee the drafting of a new constitution and set the template for Egypt's future leadership. He will help determine Egypt's future policies toward Israel and the West, Islam in public life, its current military rulers its Christian minority, the status of women and individual rights. Mayy El Sheikh will be blogging about the debate live from the Cairo Bureau of The New York Times when it gets under way at 7:30 p.m. local time, 1:30 p.m Eastern time. Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood campaigning as a liberal Islamist, will face off against Amr Moussa, a former diplomat under Mr. Mubarak campaigning as the secular alternative to an "experiment" in Islamist democracy. This week, The Lede looked in detail at the television commercials the two men, and some of their rivals, have been running in advance of the election. Mohamed Morsi, the third of the three frontrunners, was not invited. He is the candidate of the Brotherhood, the 80-year-old Islamist revival group that dominated the parliamentary elections, making him a serious contender on the strength of his party support alone. Both Mr. Moussa and Mr. Aboul Fotouh are considered skilled debaters. Mr. Aboul Fotouh, 60, is a physician who in the 1970s founded an Islamist student movement that ultimately merged with and revitalized the Muslim Brotherhood. He first gained widespread attention as student when he publicly challenged former President Anwar el Sadat over his autocratic control of the state and treatment of a prominent Islamic scholar. Others had gone to jail for less, but Mr. Aboul Fotouh stayed calm as Mr. Sadat lost his temper. An audio recordings of the famous exchange still circulates on the Internet. Mr. Aboul Fotouh eventually spent more than six years in prison for his work with the Muslim Brotherhood. He also became a leader of the reform faction in the group. He has long argued within the group in favor of broad protections of artistic and individual freedoms, against barring women or non-Muslim from the presidency, and also against the notion of an independent council of Muslim scholars to advise the parliament. Since Mr. Mubarak left office, Mr. Aboul Fotouh has also argued publicly that the Brotherhood should go back to its roots in preaching and charity and get out of partisan politics. He was expelled from the group last year for announcing an independent campaign for president at a time when the Brotherhood had promised not to run a candidate (it later abandoned that pledge). Mr. Moussa, 75, who served as foreign minister for a decade under Mr. Mubarak in the 1990s, became something close to a national hero in Egypt for his performance in public debates with his Israeli counterpart over the status of the Palestinians. Mr. Moussa proved himself to be an exceptionally clear, charismatic and well-spoken advocate for the Palestinian case under international law. He has never endorsed violence against Israel, or questioned Egypt's adherence to the 1979 Camp David treaty. But Mr. Moussa's role in the debates inspired a popular song in his honor, titled "I Hate Israel (I Love Amr Moussa)." Egyptians have talked about him as a possible president ever since, and that is considered the main reason that Mr. Mubarak moved Mr. Moussa to the powerless and nonthreatening position of general secretary of the Arab League in 2001. A deft politician, Mr. Moussa walked a fine line, never ruling out a potential presidential run but never breaking with Mr. Mubarak either. Mr. Moussa finally appeared in Tahrir Square just days before Mr. Mubarak left office, swarmed by an adoring crowd. It was an unmistakable signal that the political elite had turned against the Mubarak government. Mr. Moussa is now campaigning on a promise of experience and stability. He says he is the candidate best able to seize the reins of government on the day he takes office, and with the parliament under the control of the Brotherhood, he presents himself as a check on Islamist domination.