Carney, Urquhart face off in debate

"One [Urquhart] is anti-government and an independent voice," Wilson said. "The other one seems to be one that's not a career politician, but has experience with government and knows the state and is going to bring that to Congress."

A poll released Wednesday by the university's Center for Political Communication found that Carney leads Urquhart 48 percent to 31 percent among registered voters in Delaware. Mycoff said Urquhart faces an uphill battle in making up the difference in a state that heavily favors Democrats.

"What I was looking for in this debate was how Mr. Urquhart is going to move his campaign more to the center of the general electorate, whereas, in the primary, he argued he was the more conservative candidate," Mycoff said. "He needs to broaden that message and explain how this is going to work for the independents in Delaware."

He said both candidates adhered to the "Delaware way," the tradition of civility that most politicians in the state follow.

"It is in line with the norms in Delaware," Mycoff said. "There weren't a lot of negative comments back and forth between the candidates. Surely they disagree on things, and at some point during the debate their disagreements became a little more heated, but throughout the entire debate they were respectful to each other."