Tonight, Dick Blumenthal and Linda McMahon bloodied each other at their first debate in Hartford, Conn.

Blumenthal took the first swipe in his opening statement, warning that McMahon “would take us back to the policies that led us to these problems. She supported the bailout; I opposed it. I would give a middle-income tax cut now without holding it hostage with tax cuts for the wealthy.”

Used to being on offense, McMahon began the night on defense. “When Mr. Blumenthal is talking about middle-class tax cuts, that’s just not true,” she said. “I don’t want to see us raise taxes on anyone.”

Asked by the moderators about Blumenthal’s new ad accusing her of supporting cuts to the minimum wage, McMahon replied: “That’s a lie. . . . Mr. Blumenthal and I actually share the same thought relative to raising the minimum wage. He knows that’s wrong.”

Earlier in the day, McMahon had tried to gain the upper hand by releasing an ad that revisited Blumenthal’s misstatements about his military record. When the moderators asked him about the ad, Blumenthal responded coolly: “As I said before, I’m proud of my military service. On a few occasions, I described it inaccurately. It was not intentional. But that is no excuse. And I want to say that I am sorry particularly to our veterans, and most especially to the veterans of Vietnam, but I’m going to continue to fight for veterans.”

His answer allowed him to sidestep the issue and return to the minimum wage: “When my opponent was asked [whether] she would cut the minimum wage, she said she would have to look at it. The record will show that that is so. I would have said absolutely not.”

Continually, Blumenthal hit McMahon on WWE’s taking state tax credits and producing merchandise overseas, and on her cutting 10 percent of her workforce while taking home $46 million. McMahon defended her record and returned fire: “I’m very proud of the fact that I’ve created 600 jobs in Connecticut. We need more of that in Washington. We need more of that here in our state.” Finally, she asked Blumenthal, “How many jobs have you created?”

Later, Blumenthal responded to her continued jibes about his lack of business experience by saying, “I’m not going to be an entrepreneur as a senator,” eliciting applause from the audience.

McMahon was at her strongest when Blumenthal got overexcited about his offense. He mentioned that WWE was under a state investigation for not giving its workers proper health care. McMahon responded that she found it “a little bit unusual” that for the 20 years WWE has been located in Connecticut, it’s only been investigated now that its former CEO is battling the attorney general in an election. When asked for a follow-up, Blumenthal backtracked, saying “I have no knowledge about that” and that the state Labor Department was handling the investigation. As the audience chuckled, McMahon responded, “I have no comment.”

Besides learning in a lightning round that both candidates are fans of the Yankees and thin-crust pizza, the audience walked away knowing that Blumenthal would “fight for the people of Connecticut” and that McMahon wanted someone in Washington “who would create jobs.” It also walked away seeing a feistier Blumenthal than it’s used to — a sign of how hard-fought this race will be in its final weeks.