Democrat Roy Barnes and Republican Nathan Deal squared off Saturday afternoon in their first gubernatorial debate, sponsored by the Medical Association of Georgia and other medical groups, at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

The candidates discussed topics including health care, taxes and the state's water crisis in front of an audience of roughly 100 people, including doctors and their campaign supporters. Libertarian candidate John Monds of Cairo also shared the stage.

The two major candidates differed when asked their response to a Georgia Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that struck down a cap in pain and suffering damages awarded by juries in medical malpractice cases. Republicans have long argued that tort reform is needed to protect doctors from frivolous and costly lawsuits.

Barnes said that jurors are smart enough to award proper damages and that judges should be allowed to intervene in the rare instances in which they go overboard. Deal said he is in favor of reinstating the limits with a state constitutional amendment.

"What we know is that the tort reform that was put in place by the General Assembly had very positive effects of bringing people into the medical profession, into our state; keeping some who were already here who might have otherwise migrated to other states," said Deal.

"I do not like to monkey with the constitution," Barnes responded.

"I find it somewhat ironic that we say that jurors - drawn from registered voter rolls - don't have enough sense to decide a case of damages. But, they do have enough sense to decide who's president, governor or even who has the very breath of life taken from them in a criminal case."

To help turn around the state's economy, Barnes proposed embracing embryonic stem cell research, which he said creates jobs. He stated that Deal was against such research.

In a rebuttal, Deal said he wasn't against embryonic stem cell research, but instead, opposes "creating life for the purpose of taking that life for research purposes."

In addressing the increased cost of Medicaid, Deal said non-emergency patients at emergency rooms should be charged a co-pay, more clinics need to be built to offset expensive emergency room visits and that school lunches should be healthier.

"I think what we have to do now in the Medicaid arena, is figure out how to deliver better health care in a less expensive fashion," said the former congressman from Gainesville.

Barnes said the Medicaid problem will only get worse under President Barack Obama's new health care plan, if more isn't done on the preventive side. He proposed ensuring that chronic cases are efficiently treated, keeping seniors in their homes rather than nursing home facilities to save money, and increasing reimbursement rates.

"If I was a physician, I don't know if I'd be accepting Medicaid right now because the reimbursement is just so low," the former governor said.

Throughout the forum, Monds reiterated his libertarian stance that government can best solve problems by encouraging economic growth and staying out of the health care industry. All three candidates agreed that they would support programs to increase the number of doctors in rural areas of the state.

On other topics, Barnes and Deal agreed in their support of the federal 287(g) program, which is used by the Cobb and a few other county sheriff's offices to identify people in this country illegally. They both said they are in favor of the federal Race to the Top education grants, that the state was recently awarded. They also agreed that the state should increase its efforts to gain uncollected taxes.

While the two major candidates did take small jabs at one another during the debate, they refrained from personal attacks. The most heated exchange occurred toward the end of the debate, when Deal and Barnes accused each other of not doing enough in their respective, previous positions of congressman and governor to solve the three-state water crisis with Florida and Alabama.

"He wants to know why Congress couldn't solve the problem," Deal said. "Congress gave him a (water) compact that put on hold all the litigation and gave him four years to negotiate to settle with the other two governors, and nothing happened, and the timeline expired."

Barnes responded: "The compact was still in existence when I left office. It was your supporter, Sonny Perdue, who let it expire without finishing the negotiations." He added, "Nathan, at least you could have introduced a bill."

They both agreed that more reservoirs need to be built.

Edward Lloyd, a Kennesaw physician, said he enjoyed listening to the all the candidates, but remained uncertain about whom he'll vote for in the November election.

"Tort reform is a big issue on the minds of physicians in the community, and obviously there were differing views on that," he said.

Michael Cohen, an Augusta physician, also said he was not sure whom he'll support. Tort reform and Medicaid funding are his primary concerns, he stated.

"I think there are fairly impossible situations for anyone, no matter what they espouse," Cohen said. "So it's going to be very difficult to solve those problems."