WATERVILLE — Maine’s gubernatorial candidates broke new ground Thursday morning at Thomas College in Waterville, where the second of five debates saw the trio broaching such topics as international trade opportunities and a privately funded East-West Highway.

The Mid-Maine Community Chamber of Commerce debate, which drew an audience of roughly 325 people plus an overflow crowd of students who were watching a live stream, came one day after a record crowd attended a highly anticipated debate in Portland sponsored by the Greater Portland Community Chamber of Commerce.

For Thursday’s event, Republican Gov. Paul LePage, Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud and independent Eliot Cutler were previously given the questions they would be asked, unlike in Portland. Each was seated at his own table on the Laurette Ayotte Auditorium stage, and the exchanges were not as animated.

During their opening statements, the candidates picked up where they left off at the Portland debate.

Cutler challenged LePage’s assertion that voters would be choosing between a liberal mind set and conservative mind set, as well as Michaud’s claim that the election is really a race between him and the governor.

“They’re both terribly wrong and we can’t afford that kind of thinking anymore,” Cutler said. “There’s another way – the way forward.”

Michaud, meanwhile, took a page from LePage’s playbook by telling the crowd he’s not “the slickest talker.” As in Portland, he didn’t address Cutler directly, reflecting a strategy to make this a two-way race against the incumbent. However, Cutler and Michaud will be facing off in a debate in Lewiston Friday without the governor, who has acknowledged that his best chance of winning rests with his opponents splitting the vote.

When Michaud criticized LePage for not collaborating more with other New England governors on issues such as energy and opiate addiction, LePage had a quick response.

“Don’t worry, Mike, next year there will be three Republican governors in New England.”

The debates reflect a tight race. A poll conducted for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram in September by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center showed Michaud holding a slight lead over LePage, but within the poll’s margin of error.

Cutler remains in a distant third place, but his campaign hopes that a strong showing during the debates will generate momentum.

The Waterville debate echoed similar topics as Portland’s, including minimum wage and the struggling manufacturing sector.

However, the candidates also highlighted differences over other policy issues, including borrowing for capital projects and a proposal for a privately funded East-West highway.

LePage said he supports the East-West highway plan in theory, while Michaud and Cutler oppose it. Cutler advocated for fixing Maine’s existing roads, while Michaud proposed using the National Guard to build out an East-West rail line from the port in Eastport.

LePage contended that using the guard to build the rail line was illegal, but Michaud said the guard built State Police barracks in Houlton.

On the topic of international trade, Michaud said the state’s next trade mission should be to the United Kingdom or Italy, since a new European Union trade deal in the works could create an economic opportunity for Maine.

Cutler disagreed, saying that in the future the EU will account for only 5 percent of the global economy, while China will represent 40 percent.

“Mike, again you’re looking in the wrong direction,” said Cutler, who previously worked in China for several years. “We ought to say thank you very much to the Europeans and look the other way.”

LePage shot back at both and upped the ante. “I wouldn’t turn anybody off. I’ll tell you Greenland has great opportunity and Iceland has great opportunity.”

Asked about welfare, LePage took credit for reducing welfare by nearly 50 percent, and pointed to the Department of Labor and Department of Health and Human Service’s welfare-to-work plan.

Michaud said, rather than “kick them off welfare” like LePage, who openly scoffed at the charge, the state needs to make the system work to lift people from poverty and into the middle class by raising the minimum wage, investing in apprenticeship programs and implementing a tiered reductions in benefits for people who can only get low-paying jobs. Cutler also supports a tiered benefits system.

Cutler and LePage clashed over whether the state has a capital budget plan for bonding projects like roads and bridges.

“We don’t have a framework to make the decisions,” Cutler said. “Maine is being run like a 5-year-old would run a lemonade stand and we need to change that.”

Asked which programs they would eliminate, Michaud chose the governor’s A-F grading system for public schools and the “extravagant vacation packages” to appointees. Cutler took aim at tax credits, such as Pine Tree Zones, which he said have a rate of return of minus 22.4 percent. And LePage targeted the state’s tax structure, which he said is keeping out-of-state middle managers from accepting promotions in Maine.

While his opponents landed more shots, Michaud got in the last blow during the lightning round that featured light-hearted questions, when he was asked to name his favorite Maine entertainer, and he replied: “Gov. LePage.”

LePage gave Michaud a standing ovation, and Michaud got up and shook the governor’s hand.

Mike Anderson of China, who attended the debate, said the forum didn’t change his mind about supporting LePage, but he thought all three candidates were strong. Anderson said the candidates all spouted “hopeful” rhetoric, but LePage was in the trenches helping to get bills passed.

Another audience member, Sara Dyer, director of community relations at Inland Hospital in Waterville, said she found the forum both educational and entertaining, especially seeing each candidate’s personality.

Dyer said she is still undecided about who to vote for and wants to spend more time reading about the candidates’ positions on issues.

“But this helped bring me closer to a decision,” she said.

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