In their second and last debate of the general election season, Democrat Phil Murphy and Republican Kim Guadagno scrapped at William Paterson University, the Republican amplifying her attack on the front-running Democrat as a tax-hike seeking, out-of-touch multi-millionaire, and the Democrat deriding Guadagno as a yesterday’s news functionary of a failed Chris Christie Administration.

“Anybody who knows me knows I’m not Chris Christie,” said a radiant in red Guadagno. “I’m running on my values. My principles. When I had a complaint about Chris Christie, I made it privately. When the governor finally decided to increase the gas tax, I had to stand up and disagree. Phil Murphy supported the gas tax.”

Pressed by a CBS News moderator, the sitting lieutenant governor, longtime second banana of an under 20% job approval rated Christie, declined to say where she disagreed with the lame duck Republican governor, and said she would not want her running mate Carlos Rendo to disclose where he might agree or disagree with the governor. That’s a private executive matter, she argued.

On the same week that his campaign uncorked an ad featuring the Democrat observing the infamous George Washington Bridge, Murphy didn’t buy it, of course, eager to keep his rival tethered to Christie.

“His record is her record,” said the Democratic nominee, friendly and relaxed through the hour-long debate.

Murphy then went through the highlights of his own biography – “middle class on a good day” – to prove that he’s not simply a retired Goldman Sachs guy who last year made $7 million. “With all of the chapters in my life,” said the Democrat who worked his way through Harvard, “I’m a proud public school product. Dad did not have a high school education.”

Having savaged Murphy in a tough sanctuary state ad on the heels of their last debate, Guadagno stayed on that theme in tonight’s debate. “All I’m saying is one of the primary things the governor is required to do is protect the public. And a sanctuary state will put at risk millions of dollars of funding those people you wanted to help,” she said.

Riding what an FDU Poll this week sizes up as a 15-point lead, “She had her time,” Murphy shot back, denouncing her circuit breaker tax-savings plan as something that “sounds like a stock item at Crazy Eddie’s.”

Guadagno said she though the Democrat ducked a question about whether or not he would renew the two-percent property tax cap imposed by Christie. “That’s a false choice,” Murphy said. “There’s a report coming out in December. I want to make decisions based on facts. That’s what I believe in. This is an us versus them administration that we’ve had these past eight years. Leadership gets both those interests around a table. Two percent is important.” He wants to engage other elements of the conversation, including the fact that public education is $9 billion underfunded.

Guadagno hit him then – to applause from her supporters in the hall.

“You want to dodge the answer,” said the Republican. “And I’ll tell you why. He has been endorsed by every public sector union in the state. He has made promises to the special interests that resulted in his refusal to answer your question.

“Where are you getting the money?” she demanded.

“The $9 billion is coming from your really wealthy friends and your hedge funds,” retaliated Murphy, who several times tagged Guadagno as a protector of “the wealthiest among us.”

On Atlantic City: “I’m not a fan of these takeovers,” Murphy said. “Every single time it’s communities of color.” Guadagno hit him there, too. “When you were in Atlantic City last night, did you visit that food bank to talk to some people?” Murphy scrapped, inter-splicing his barbs with civil smiles. “You’ve left the middle class behind, and now you’ve left the truth behind,” Murphy shot back. “I wasn’t at that food bank but that’s how I grew up.”

They kept sparring.

“He would make New Jersey very business-unfriendly,” Guadagno said.

Murphy tried throughout to stay on the theme of Christie failing, and those failures splashing on the Republican nominee for governor.

Public transit fares up 36%, he noted, exasperated.

“We have to get back to prioritizing the economies that drove us,” Murphy said. “We have to grow the economy again. We have left tens of billions of dollars on the table. Infrastructure has not been prioritized.”

Marijuana legalization?

Criminalizing pot “doesn’t pass the social justice test,” said the Democrat.

Guadagno complained that he only added the social justice angle in the general election.

“Any tax that can be raised will be raised  it’s Murphy’s Law,” the Republican declared, picking up on a theme from her campaign’s Murphy’s Law ad. “There are not enough millionaires [to tax]. Phil Murphy should just call it for what it [his proposal of marijuana legalization] is, which is another tax increase.”

Trying to unravel her rival’s central argument for why the public shouldn’t take her seriously, the Republican rapped Murphy again when he highlighted his running mate, Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver (D-34), noting that as speaker, Oliver signed off on all of Christie’s budgets.

Handling a question on the ongoing Menendez corruption trial, Murphy said he wouldn’t comment on a hypothetical, regarding whether or not the senior senator should resign if convicted. Guadagno said it was an embarrassment that “Phil Murphy has stood by Bob Menendez for two years,” then s- attempting to counter Murphy’s foundational criticism – said if she were governor and a vacancy occurred, she would not tap Christie.

Murphy was aghast on the subject of hitting the eject button on a man who’s innocent until proved guilty.

“Are we still in America?” he wanted to know.

Asked to name their favorite fruit and vegetable as the debate galloped toward closing statements time, Guadagno tried to make her rival look Jersey-unfriendly when she followed his answer of grapefruit and broccoli with an emphatic “Jersey tomatoes and cranberries.”

The answer didn’t convinced Murphy Campaign Manager Brendan Gill, who in the immediate aftermath of the tilt released the following statement: “Phil Murphy showed a real vision for an economy that grows and protects the middle class, is stronger and fairer, and turns the page from eight years of failure. All Kim Guadagno could offer was more of the same, and more proof that she would only be a third term of Chris Christie.”

The Guadagno Campaign issued a rapid response to the collision, which included a statement issued by Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-13), a candidate for the senate in Monmouth County. “Mark my words; if the cap isn’t permanently extended taxpayers will unquestionably face much more dramatic property tax increases and cuts to municipal services.”