Lincoln-Douglas debates, Iranian style

"So who endangered the regime?" he asked.

Mousavi sat poker-faced through each sarcastic onslaught. Then he derided Ahmadinejad's foreign policy, asking why, for example, the president kept saying the US was weak and "about to fall," yet made four visits to New York and wrote two letters to President George Bush and the American people.

Mousavi said that the incendiary nature of Ahmadinejad's various Holocaust remarks had yielded fierce international reaction, yet "he comes back and this was like a heroic epic. How was this an epic?"

Instead, Mousavi said, Ahmadinejad's ferocity against Israel – most recently at a UN conference in a speech that caused Western delegates to walk out – had been called a "blessing" for Israel by increasing global support for the Jewish state.

Iranians fed up with economy; face-off in streets

Some Iranians watching the debate were shocked at the candid references to past misdeeds, failed or contentious policies, and sheer vindictiveness shown by the candidates.

"They are destroying the entire Islamic Republic!" said one Mousavi supporter, as she watched the verbal firefight on television. "All this [dirty laundry] is coming out. People talk about this, but never leaders."

"It's a battle," said a friend of hers, when Mousavi said again expressed his disgust at how Ahmadinejad acted "above the law."

"Everyone's upset, productivity is down, inflation is up, and [there is] unlawful expenditure from the public purse," Mousavi said, noting that he had been dipping into the treasury for his programs – and dissolved the organization meant to provide checks and balances. "It's in the interest of everyone in the country, including yourself, for you not to do these things."

The face-off in the debate mirrored one earlier in the day on the streets of Tehran. Banners in the capital show Ahmadinejad beside Iran's rocket, which in February launched the Omid satellite into earth's orbit.

On the 30th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution, just days after that launch, Ahmadinejad told a sea of flag-waving Iranians that their ancient nation had become a "superpower" that could not be threatened.

But Mousavi supporters have been out in force on the streets, handing out strips of green ribbon – the campaign color – to motorists and pedestrians, and plastering cards with Mousavi posters.

The two sides came to a head in front of Tehran University.

"We love Ahmadinejad!" shouted one rose-carrying student who gave her name as Fatemah.

"Just Ahmadinejad!" added Yusef, an accounting student. "He is very loved, very loved across the country."

Mousavi fan Sanaz, an English student, was voting "just to stop Ahmadinejad being president again," she said.

"We don't want such an impolite, unpleasant president," added Morobati, another student. "Our president has put us down in the eyes of the world. People want democracy instead of dictatorship."

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