Cantwell, Baumgartner spar in Wash. Senate debate

Cantwell is seeking her third term. Baumgartner is a first-term state senator from Spokane who is seeking to upset the Democratic incumbent.

They debated in the studios of KCTS, Seattle's public television station.

Baumgartner, who has worked as a civilian contractor in Afghanistan, said he wants to "end the war in Afghanistan now" and use the savings to help with domestic finances. Baumgartner also touted one of his proposals: a 1-cent, temporary tax on gasoline to help pay for veterans services.

"We have a foreign policy disaster now in the Middle East," he said. "Sen. Cantwell has been consistently in support of poorly planned wars."

Cantwell countered that she supports President Barack Obama's plans to withdraw troops in 2014, and she said President George W. Bush deserved blame for not fully funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

She rejected Baumgartner's gas tax idea.

"I don't support taxing transportation for something other than transportation," she said.

Cantwell, a former U.S. House member and executive at Seattle tech company RealNetworks Inc., said her opponent would cut programs like Social Security and Medicare and is too readily influenced by conservative groups.