The candidates in Maine’s U.S. Senate race sparred Thursday over universal health care, financial regulation, an Iraq withdrawal timetable and other issues in their second debate of the campaign season.

Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent, faced off against her challenger, Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, before a capacity crowd of 550 people at the Portland Regional Chamber’s Eggs & Issues breakfast.

Allen was at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland for the debate, but Collins was unable to get a flight out of Washington, D.C., Wednesday night, so she appeared via video conference.

Allen continuously pushed what he said was a need for a bold change in Washington, while Collins touted her bipartisan record in getting legislation passed.

Moderated by WGME TV anchor John Hopperstad, the candidates were asked about topics including the financial crisis, the Iraq war, the energy crunch, tax cuts, health care reform, judicial confirmations and economic development.

His last question wasn’t about policy or politics, but rather gave the candidates a chance for a strong pitch: Why should each of us vote for you?

Collins answered that she’s worked hard for Maine, never missed a roll call vote and worked across party lines.

Collins pointed to a recent Washington Post ranking that recorded her as voting with her party 67 percent of the time, while Allen voted with his party 98 percent of the time.

“I think you deserve a senator who will always put the Maine people first, not vote the party line,” she said.

Allen said he didn’t think this was an ordinary time, and the country had a chance to change its course.

“I believe if you want to change the direction of the country, you need to change leadership in Washington,” he said. “I want to change the country and I want to make Maine better.”

On the financial crisis, Allen placed blame on President Bush, and attempted to link Collins’ support of Bush’s policies to the problems in the financial markets today.

“The lesson of the last week – indeed, the last eight years – “is that Wall Street is connected to Main Street,” said Allen. “We are all in the same economic boat and will rise and fall together.”

The government needs to reinstate better regulation of the markets, particularly over newer financial instruments that contributed to the mess, said Allen.

Collins said the country hasn’t struck the right balance in regulation. She charged that Allen opposed two amendments in 2005 that would have strengthened regulation of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Allen responded that the bill passed the House, with his vote, but died in the Senate.

On taxes, Collins said she supported the tax reform packages that have provided refunds to more than 500,000 Maine residents. She thinks the tax cuts should be made permanent for middle- and low-income people, but said she supports an increase in the rate for people who earn more than $1 million annually.

Allen said he opposed the tax packages, noting that they drove the national deficit up by more than $1 trillion.

“We have driven ourselves deep, deep into a fiscal hole,” he said.

Collins agreed that the deficit was too high, and she blamed bloated agricultural subsidies and too much federal government spending, “but not the 500,000 Mainers who got tax relief.”

On Iraq, Allen said the country should take a lesson from former Sen. George Mitchell’s work in Northern Ireland and set a deadline for withdrawal. That would focus the parties on working together to meet the deadline, he said. He said it may be too late, however, suggesting that the Shiite faction is now so strong that it may just roll over the Sunni faction.

Collins said she thought a deadline for withdrawal would embolden America’s enemies. She said she has proposed a plan to transition U.S. forces away from day-to-day combat and have them focus on anti-terror missions, securing the border, training Iraqi forces and protection of American interests. That would allow a quick drawdown of forces, she said.

The latest public numbers show Allen trailing Collins by 16 percentage points, according to a SurveyUSA poll of 820 registered Maine voters conducted on Sept. 22 and 23. The poll’s margin of error is 3.8 percentage points.