SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- It started the same way all debates do. And it ended pretty much the same way. It was quiet, direct and informative. But inside it all, did any one candidate come across the strongest? That all depends on who you ask, of course.

Besides questions about trust and money and yes, even the bailout, the candidates were asked about a government mandated program that would automatically deduct from your paycheck so that you had cash in your later years. Every answer had the answer.

Said Dan Maffei, the Democratic Congressional hopeful, "Basically it allows people to save. It's not mandatory. You can say, 'I don't want it." But the, what it would say is that basically, if you didn't say anything, you would automatically be putting some of your pay away to save."

"The word mandate bothers me an awful lot. The word access? To be able to do that? That's fine with me. But mandate, I don't like that word," said Dale Sweetland, the Republic candidate.

"I think one of the problems we have with pension funds right now is the Wall Street sharpies have got them into mortgage backed securities, which have now gone down. Commodity speculation earlier this year, which has now gone down. I'm a teamster and our pension has gone from fully-funded into the so-called ‘yellow zone,’ which means it's in trouble," Green Party Candidate Howie Hawkins said.

There was no real interaction between the trio. No hot debates or cold slams. So when it was all said and done, who won?

"I think it's a good debate and the people won," Maffei said.

"I don't know who won here today! I hope I had an opportunity to let people know who I am," Sweetland said.

"In the debate? I did!" said Hawkins.

There is something that all the candidates do agree on and that's the recent decision on the bailout plan. They all say they most certainly would not have voted to put the cash back in the hands, they say, of those who got us here in the first place.