New York's Junior Senator and her Republican challenger face off in a debate. Kirsten Gillibrand and Joe DioGuardi are looking to represent New York in the U.S. Senate. As our Grace Rauh reports, the two candidates traded shots over the economy and DioGuardi accused Gillibrand flip flopping on the issue of gun control.

NEW YORK -- Kirsten Gillibrand and Joseph DioGuardi are trading jabs in the fight for Gillibrand's U.S. Senate seat. She was appointed to the position in 2009 after Hillary Clinton was tapped to be Secretary of State.

“I was revealing the genocide against the Albanians in the Balkins after Bosnia, while she was concealing the fact that nicotine was addictive,” said DioGuardi.

“The voting records are clear, I vote against tobacco. And you vote in favor of tobacco,” said Gillibrand.

That spat was over Gillibrand's work as an attorney, representing the cigarette manufacturer Phillip Morris. DioGuardi, a former Congressman from Westchester, trails in the polls. He came out swinging on Friday, looking to score as many points as possible.

“It's really hard for the people to know where Kirsten Gillibrand stands. Because she was one thing as a House member and she's something else as a Senator,” said DioGuardi.

Indeed, Gillibrand was on the hot seat right from the start. The moderator asked her to explain her flip-flops on issues like gun control and immigration.

“I always fight for my constituents,” said Gillibrand.

DioGuardi accused Gillibrand of promoting sub-prime mortgages while she worked at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He went on to say that she and her husband made money off the foreclosure crisis.

“I find your personal attack on a family member very offensive,” said Gillibrand.

DioGuardi, meanwhile, faced questions about his ties to a firm accused of running a Ponzi Scheme.

“This is a complete fabrication and misrepresentation of who I am,” said DioGuardi.

DioGuardi wants to repeal the federal health care reform bill. Gillibrand supports it. DioGuardi is in favor of extending the Bush tax cuts for all Americans. Gillibrand says wants the tax cuts extended for families who earn less than $250,000.

There is some common ground. Neither would endorse Mayor Bloomberg's push to prohibit the purchase of sugary drinks with food stamps and both want the trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed held OUTSIDE New York.

DioGuardi's pugnacious style in the debate may be a sign of what's to come in the final stretch of this campaign. He says he believes in the old adage: Don't fire till you see the whites of their eyes.

Both Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and her challenger Joseph DioGuardi will go head to head in a debate at the Sage College Bush Memorial Center in Troy on Thursday, October 21st.

We will carry the debate live here on YNN at 7 p.m. The debate will be followed by a live half hour recap show.