CHARLESTON -- Republican challenger Russ Weeks went on the attack against Gov. Joe Manchin in a debate between the two gubernatorial candidates Monday night at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences in Charleston.

While Democrat Manchin touted his record as of bring jobs to the state, Weeks continually took shots at Manchin's administration and alleged "good ole boy" system of cronyism in the debate sponsored by the West Virginia Broadcasters Association. Weeks even went as far as claiming that at least two state employees with the Department of Highways have been receiving money from "double-dipping," although he refused to elaborate or offer evidence of any misuse of funds.

With MetroNews Talkline host Hoppy Kercheval serving at the moderator, Manchin and Weeks pontificated on a number of hot-button issues like the economy, education and the West Virginia University degree-awarding scandal with Manchin's daughter. The non-traditional format, agreed upon by both candidates, gave candidate's ample opportunity to answer the moderator's questions without a specific time limit and for the moderator to ask followup questions.

Mountain Party candidate Jesse Johnson wasn't invited to participate in Monday night's debate. Last week, he lost an appeal in the Kanawha Circuit Court for inclusion in the debate.

With the recent downfall of the stock market, the economic condition of the state was discussed by both candidates. While Manchin touted state job growth and the expansion of outside industries setting up in the state, Weeks focused on getting more companies in the state.

"We're in the best shape to weather this (economic crisis)," Manchin said. "We've got to be very, very diligent in what we are doing and how we manage people's money."

Manchin added "The 23,000 jobs good jobs and $8 billion of investment have been solid jobs with benefit packages which enable us to take care of the people who can least afford to take care of themselves."

When asked to rank the state's business climate, Weeks ranked West Virginia a "D."

"If you look at the economic, business climate in West Virginia, it (can be) set up in a way that we won't have to go to these companies and ask them to come. They'll look at what's going on with other businesses and see it would be advantageous to their bottom line if they came here."

Weeks didn't give details of many of his proposals, relying mostly on attacks on the Manchin administration.

One such example was Week's stance on merit pay for teachers. Manchin supports the current system and suggests looking for new ways to entice educators with specialized degrees to remain West Virginia. Weeks said a merit system already exists and did not elaborate on ideas to keep teachers in the state.

The WVU degree scandal has been a central issue of Week's campaign in recent weeks. Manchin's daughter, Heather Bresch, was credited with a master's degree that she did not receive from the university. The scandal led to the resignation of WVU President Mike Garrison.

When asked why he has made the degree scandal such a major issue of his campaign, Weeks said he hasn't made it an issue, the people of West Virginia have.

"I have issues in my campaign I want to talk about but everywhere I go I see people bringing up the West Virginia University issue," Weeks said. "I'm pointing out the cronyism and the friends put in place who're responsible for giving the governor's daughter a degree."

Manchin denied any personal involvement in the situation.

The debate shifted to the humorous side when discussing the governor's role in choosing WVU's head coach and the role of politics in higher education. After Weeks claimed Manchin had influenced the decision to hire the new head football coach, Manchin said, "(If so) I wish could have called some plays on Saturday."

The Herald-Dispatch