BEDFORD--The state of the economy took the center stage in the first debate this election cycle former U.S Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro) and U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-Rochester).

Bradley said the country is facing a "crisis of confidence," while Shea-Porter said she is "optimistic" that the economy will recover.

"We have a crisis of confidence in our country we need more than finger pointing, more partisan name blaming and all of those kinds of things," Bradley said at the debate sponsored by the AARP. "We need people who will go to Washington, who are real leaders who have a track record of working across the aisle as I did in the 12 years I served in the legislature or the 4 years I served in Congress to really solve problems."

Responding to question about when the economy will recover, Shea-Porter said, "I would say that in the long-term we've been in trouble before and the American businesses, and the American people, are very strong and we will come through this."

Shea-Porter added, "I've very optimistic, I belief in us and we will come through this."

During the debate Bradley said he was not in favor of privatizing Social Security but when pressed on the issue Bradley did not take the idea off the table.

"I want to stress that this is an area I disagree with President Bush on I don't agree with privatizing Social Security but you know what we need to reassure seniors that Social Security is not going to disappear," Bradley said.

"Actually Jeb you've flipped so many times on Social Security that the Union Leader said this issue was clear as fog," Shea-Porter responded. "And your answer is still not clear about what you're saying."

In a follow-up question about whether he would agree to a "carve out plan" that would create private accounts Bradley said, "What I'm not going to do is say that any option that might work even though I am skeptical that we should take off the table but one thing I would really disagree with my opponent on this is that she's always looking for taxpayers to bailout the government and this is another example."

Shea-Porter did have one misstep when she incorrectly stated that a 1999 banking deregulation bill was advocated by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Bradley said the bill was signed by President Clinton and was one factor that led to the current economic crisis.

"The name on that is Graham as in Lindsey Graham," Shea-Porter said.

The bill was actually pushed by former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.).