Fla. Governor Candidates Debate

Gubernatorial candidates Charlie Crist, left, and Jim Davis share a moment before the "Before You Vote - Decision 2006" debate at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Fla. Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2006 which will be broadcast on all Florida public television stations. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee,Pool ) (Wilfredo Lee - AP)

DAVIE, Fla. -- Candidates in the tight race for Florida governor haggled over standardized testing, property taxes and property insurance Tuesday in their first debate.

U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, a Democrat, criticized Attorney General Charlie Crist, a Republican, for wanting to "stay the course" by using the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to reward and punish schools, saying the state's graduation rate and SAT scores are among the country's worst.

"I will end the use of the FCAT as we know it," Davis said. "Right now the FCAT is used to punish children, teachers and schools, and Charlie wants to continue that."

But Crist, a former education commissioner, said the test has been important in measuring school performance.

"If we are willing to grade 9- and 10-year-old children, we ought to be able to grade the schools that are supposed to perform for those children," Crist said.

Crist said he wants to force insurance companies to stop "cherry picking" by offering only certain types of insurance.

"We ought to mandate that if they're going to be here for the good stuff ... they ought to be here for the property insurance, too," said Crist, adding that he wants to stop national companies' practice of setting up Florida-only subsidiaries.

Davis said Crist is talking a good game now but didn't stand up against insurance companies while attorney general.

Davis proposes creating a $20 billion "Hurricane Protection Premium Fund" that would pay homeowners up to $500,000 for storm losses, leaving private insurers to cover the remainder and increasing competition.

Crist took on Davis' proposal to revive a tax on stock and bond savings; Davis said that Crist's plan to lower property taxes will take four years to help homeowners and that renters and business owners will pay the price.

The debate was moderated by Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for PBS' "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." It was organized by Leadership Florida, the Florida Press Association and the Florida Public Broadcasting Service.

It was held a day after a Quinnipiac University poll showed Crist with 46 percent voter support to Davis' 44 percent, within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

A second debate is scheduled for Monday.