ATLANTA --- As he seeks a third term in a district that is fairly balanced between the political parties, U.S. Rep. John Barrow, D-Savannah, said he's running again for the same reason he ran in 2004: He's concerned about the direction of the country.

"If you were concerned about that when I first ran for this job, you've got to be really concerned about it today," he said.

In an age of partisan redistricting that has made the results in most districts mere formalities, the 12th Congressional District is different. It is intensely competitive. Mr. Barrow narrowly beat U.S. Rep. Max Burns four years ago, then narrowly defeated him again in a 2006 rematch.

Now he faces former congressional staffer and radio anchorman John Stone, who sees an opportunity in the balanced seat.

"It always is going to be a battleground district," Mr. Stone said.

The candidates disagree on several issues -- and in some cases disagree on which issues they disagree on.

Mr. Barrow insists he supports offshore drilling as part of the answer to America's energy woes.

"It can be done responsibly, and it's the low-hanging fruit," Mr. Barrow said.

Mr. Stone, though, said that view is a recent evolution and that Mr. Barrow has instead spent his days in Washington voting against measures to allow drilling.

"He voted against it over 25 times," Mr. Stone said. "We got to 25 times, and we just quit counting."

Mr. Barrow counters that many of those votes were completely unrelated to offshore drilling and include votes in support of other measures that passed while Republicans were trying to push a drilling bill through.

The candidates have clashed on Iraq, with Mr. Stone saying the troop surge initiated by President Bush has been a success.

"We finally did what we needed to do in the war, which is listen to our military people on the ground and in the field and tell them, 'You do what you need to do to win this thing,' " he said.

Mr. Barrow said it's time for Iraqis to run their own country.

"I never felt like the American soldier should be used basically to fight someone else's civil war," he said.

Both are uneasy about the financial bailout that passed Congress. Mr. Barrow voted against it, saying the measure was aimed too much at Wall Street and foreign investors who made bad bets and not enough at Americans trapped in subprime mortgages.

"If you would invest the money on the bottom end, you would pretty much guarantee the benefits would flow up," he said.

Mr. Stone would like to see taxpayers repaid when the crisis passes.

"Right now, our economy is bleeding," he said. "We've got a patient that's in critical condition. I agree that we ought to stop the bleeding, stabilize the patient. But as soon as we do, I want to find out who stabbed him, and I want them prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.