Gov. John Hickenlooper and Republican challenger Bob Beauprez shook hands on stage Tuesday night when the Democrat proposed that their two campaigns swear off negative ads, but both candidates swung hard at each other during the rest of an hour-long debate in Denver.

The candidates answered questions — and had the chance to pose a couple for each other — in the debate, sponsored by The Denver Post and moderated by Chuck Plunkett, the newspaper’s politics editor, and Joey Bunch, the reporter covering the race. Topics covered included immigration policy, education funding, and how to pay for roads as revenues from the gas tax plunge. But it was the differences in the candidates’ styles that took center stage, as a pugnacious Beauprez leaned forward throughout, jabbing continuously at the more laid-back Hickenlooper, who appeared without a necktie and propped his elbows on the lectern from time to time.

Repeatedly, Beauprez accused Hickenlooper of “kicking the can down the road” and refusing to make tough decisions, while Hickenlooper bemoaned what he characterized as a counterproductive political atmosphere that makes it tough to reach consensus — “Wait, wait, the attacks are coming fast,” he protested at one point, calling attack ads “cancer” at another — and proposed that Beauprez agree to swear off negative ads.

After maintaining that he can’t coordinate with third-party advertisers — the Beauprez campaign has gone so far as to file formal complaints against an ad from the Democratic Governors Association that accuses the former banker of all manner of financial chicanery — Hickenlooper stepped across the stage and moved toward Beauprez.

“If the congressman wants to shake my hand and both agree for our campaigns that we’ll do positive ads, I’ll shake his hand right here,” Hickenlooper said, and then Beauprez, pausing for a moment, reached out and took the governor’s hand.

The candidates disagreed sharply over the economic health of the state — Hickenlooper pointed to numerous rankings that say Colorado is among the best places in the country to do business and touted a hefty drop in the unemployment rate since he took office, while Beauprez shook his head over Colorado’s tumble in a study that ranks business opportunity and decried what he called healthier job prospects in surrounding states — but clashed most pointedly over the death penalty and reproductive rights.

Beauprez pressed Hickenlooper on what has become a signature issue in his campaign: his decision last summer to suspend the execution of Chuck E. Cheese killer Nathan Dunlap. Beauprez inquired whether Hickenlooper would repeat the action in the case of James Holmes. Holmes stands trial in December for the 2012 Aurora theater shooting and has entered an insanity plea.

“If a jury were to convict James Holmes and sentence him to death, would you grant a temporary reprieve there as well?” Beauprez asked.

“I still think government shouldn’t be taking people’s lives,” Hickenlooper said, arguing that death penalty cases are extremely complex and refusing to answer the hypothetical question without the voluminous information a jury will have to see before rendering a unanimous decision. In the Dunlap case, Hickenlooper noted, several jurors later said they would have voted the other way had they known about the criminal’s severe bipolar disorder. “Regardless, Nathan Dunlap is going to die in prison,” he added.

“That’s the problem people have with John Hickenlooper,” Beauprez said. “He can’t seem to make the tough call.” He vowed to “enforce the law in Colorado and see justice served.”

Given his chance to question Beauprez, Hickenlooper asked whether the Republican would support a state program — funded by an anonymous donor — to provide contraception to Colorado teens, leading to a 40 percent drop in teen pregnancy and a 35 percent decrease in abortions among that group.

“Congressman, you switched on personhood this election, but you’re still convinced that abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, should be illegal,” Hickenlooper said, framing the question.

Beauprez, who had earlier refused to say whether he would sign a bill outlawing abortion — labeling it a “hypothetical” — called himself “unabashedly pro-life” and said he supports the personhood concept, believing that life begins at conception, but said that he opposes the amendment.

“I have no problem with people using contraception,” Beauprez said. Citing Colorado’s constitutional ban on public funding for abortion, he continued, “I have a big problem with publicly funding contraceptions that are actually abortifacients” — a method or drug that causes an abortion — and went on to say he was opposed to the use of intrauterine devices, or IUDs, because they can prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg in the womb.

Both candidates invoked Archbishop Charles Chaput in matters of life and death. Beauprez cited the Catholic leader’s position opposed to earlier personhood ballot measures — Colorado voters defeated the amendments by roughly two-to-one margins in 2008 and 2010 — and Hickenlooper said Chaput had helped guide his evolution on the death penalty.

“The Old Testament is eye for an eye and the New Testament is all about forgiveness,” Hickenlooper said. “And only God has a right to take a life. That thought is worthy of discussion.”

Hickenlooper served two terms as mayor of Denver and is seeking his second term as governor. Beauprez was elected to Congress twice in a suburban swing district and lost his 2006 bid for governor to Democrat Bill Ritter by a wide margin. Recent polls depict this year’s race as a toss-up, with the Real Clear Politics average of polling data showing Beauprez ahead by 1.8 points and the Talking Points Memo Poll Tracker showing Hickenlooper ahead by an average of 7.7 points.

During the debate’s rapid “yes or no” stretch, the candidates agreed on many of the questions. They took the same positions on statewide ballot measures — both favor Proposition 104, which requires school boards to conduct collective bargaining in public view, and both said they oppose the other three measures, including Amendment 67, this year’s personhood amendment; Amendment 68, establishing gaming at horse tracks; and Proposition 105, requiring labeling for food with genetically modified organisms.

Asked whether they favor raising the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, Beauprez said he didn’t and Hickenlooper, looking a bit surprised and bemused, answered, “Yeah, sure, yes,” and then added that it was the first time anyone had asked the question.

The candidates split over climate change, with Hickenlooper agreeing that people are “contributing significantly” to it and Beauprez saying they weren’t — later, he clarified that the key word was “significantly” — and taking contrary positions on whether people can reverse climate change.

“The Earth always changes. Can we reduce our impact? Yes, but are we going to end or alter the path that Earth’s evolution is going to take?” Beauprez asked, adding that he didn’t think so. “I think the Earth’s already figured that out and powers bigger than us have figured that out.”

Hickenlooper countered that scientific evidence has firmly established that human activity is changing the climate and that it will take “a concentrated effort” to fix things.

— Ernest@coloradostatesman.com