ATLANTA --- U.S. Rep. John Barrow portrayed himself as an effective lawmaker while his GOP opponent, former TV anchorman and congressional aide John Stone, hammered the Democrat for his free-trade and energy votes in a debate 36 hours before polls open.

The debate was relatively subdued, even as Mr. Barrow, a two-term congressman, tried to block repeated punches from Mr. Stone while throwing the occasional jab himself. Mr. Stone is trying to dislodge Mr. Barrow from a district he has won twice by narrow margins.

Mr. Stone pounded on Mr. Barrow's support for a free trade agreement with Peru, arguing that it could hurt workers even as it helped Mr. Barrow pull in campaign contributions from labor and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"You took the money from the chamber, you took the money from the unions, you sold out Georgia and you sold out Georgia workers," Mr. Stone said.

Mr. Barrow said he has voted against several free trade agreements written by the Bush administration that contained "all kinds of nods and winks" on enforcement of labor and environmental standards. The Peru deal was different, he said, because unions and business helped craft it.

Mr. Stone also said Mr. Barrow voted 25 times against drilling for oil offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, even though Mr. Barrow later voted for offshore drilling.

"When you game your votes, it means that your words mean nothing, your votes do nothing and our district gets nothing," Mr. Stone said.

Mr. Barrow said many of those votes were procedural, and many had nothing to do with drilling.

"On the substantive votes that matter, I voted for offshore drilling," he said.