With the election little more than a week away, the three leading candidates running for the U.S. Senate clashed Sunday morning in a heated debate.

With Republican candidate Marco Rubio leading in the polls by double digits, Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running with no party affiliation, and Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek, a U.S. congressman, took the gloves off and went after Rubio, trying to cut down his lead.

The debate was held at the University of South Florida in Tampa and was hosted by Candy Crowley of CNN, the network that broadcasted the debate. Crowley was joined by Adam Smith of the St. Petersburg Times.

Crowley started by citing the high unemployment rate and asked Crist what his responsibility was, noting the unemployment rate went from 3 percent when he took office back in January 2007 to 11.9 percent in September.

“This is a global economic problem,” insisted Crist. “There’s plenty of blame to go around.” Crist said the continuing economic crisis was why he backed the federal stimulus package supported by President Barack Obama.

Meek also defended the stimulus and attacked Rubio for not backing the measure. “It’s not necessarily the silver bullet,” said Meek who insisted that it helped things from getting worse in the Sunshine State. Meek said he had faith in the White House and its advisers.

Rubio made no excuses for opposing the stimulus and launched into a condemnation of the Obama economic policies, including taking aim at new federal health-care laws. “I don’t believe the economy grows because of government spending,” said Rubio.

“I think both views are correct,” added Crist, praising the idea of cutting taxes and pushing free market solutions while insisting the stimulus was needed at the time. The governor tried to portray himself as a realist instead of an ideologue.

Meek picked up this line of attack, accusing Rubio of following an “ideology.”

Rubio countered arguing that the economy was not being harmed by cutting taxes but by government policy. “It’s not ideology, it’s reality,” he fired back.

After going to commercial, the debate returned to unemployment and tax cuts. 

“It’s important we grow this economy,” said Meek. He continued to hammer Rubio, this time for backing tax cuts for Floridians and ignoring the middle class.  Meek insisted that the tax cuts Rubio backs will hurt the middle class, forcing them to pay for more, and add to the national debt. “If we are going to govern, we must govern in a responsible way.”

Crist chimed in, agreeing with both Meek and Rubio again, praising the tax cuts Rubio backed and the stimulus plan.

The debate then focused on tax cuts. Rubio praised tax cuts backed by President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003 and called for extending them. Meek continued to hammer Rubio, arguing that he cannot be a “deficit hawk” while calling for extending the Bush tax cuts, which Meek insisted will add to the national debt.

“I want the middle class to get that tax cut,” said Meek. He added he is open to a proposal floated by Vice President Joe Biden of changing the threshold for the cuts.

Rubio insisted that politicians of both parties support his position, including the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, state CFO Alex Sink.