as you do," Cuomo said.

They reprised that back-and-forth after Nixon took a shot at Cuomo over corruption in Albany, the state capital, telling him: "If you stop lying, I'll stop interrupting."

The interjections and asides persisted through the first half of the debate, as Nixon downplayed the two-term governor's experience, saying it "doesn't mean that much if you're not good at governing."

The debate, which lasted an hour, and was hosted by WCBS at Hofstra University on Long Island, was Cuomo's first one-on-one face-off since 2006, when he met Republican Jeanine Pirro ahead of a state attorney general election. The biggest question heading in, given his considerable apparent lead, was whether he could sit tight -- the two candidates were seated for the duration -- and steer clear of anyconfrontation that might throw him off course.

Before the debate, Joe Dinkin, campaigns director for the Working Families Party, which endorsed Nixon and will have her on its ballot line in November, guessed that "Cuomo's team is prepping him not to lash out and create a moment. His goal will be to make no news."

On that front, Cuomo likely succeeded. Apart from a few flashes of frustration and feisty, made-for-TV exchanges, neither candidate managed a knockout blow.

Cuomo tried to pick off Nixon with repeated attacks on what he described as the slow and circumscribed rollout of her tax returns. When Nixon tried to hit him over "transparency," he returned to the tax question.

"I think my opponent should be careful with that word," Cuomo said of Nixon. "She released five