In their final televised debate Sunday night, the candidates for King County executive stuck to familiar themes and avoided blunders or newsworthy pronouncements.

The fourth TV debate, on KIRO, was held at Emerald Downs racetrack in Auburn. It featured questions in a "town hall" format from some of the 150 audience members. Their questions tended to focus on south King County issues such as potential Green River flooding.

The debate lacked some of the edgy attacks heard in previous showdowns. Candidates Dow Constantine, a King County Council member, and Susan Hutchison, a former KIRO news anchor who now heads a non-profit foundation, seemed to play it safe. Four commercial interruptions also interrupted the flow of the debate.

Neither candidate made news, as Hutchison did in a debate last week when she said she wanted to put light rail across the 520 bridge and not I-90, as voters decided in an election last year.

Constantine, who won a coin toss and spoke first, hammered at two points he's stressed in the debates: his experience in local and state government, and "values" -- meaning his pro-choice, pro-environment, pro-light rail positions.

Hutchison also played a recurring motif. She said the election is about change. The real issue, she said, is that the county has been "massively mismanaged." The county needs an "outsider with fresh new ideas" and declared "I am that person."

They returned to those themes again and again, including their closing statments.

Hutchison said she would bring the views of a non-partisan, non-politician to the highest office in the county.

Constantine said she had no governmental experience, a "big problem" in light of potential floods and a flu epidemic.

During the meaty part of the debate, Hutchison said Constantine had the wrong kind of experience and was responsible for the county's budget deficit and its generous health benefits for employees.

Constantine countered that Hutchison didn't understand the issues and had made campaign contributions to the state's homebuilders' association, which he called anti-environment.

Hutchison also said county government was Seattle-centric and disrespectful to suburbs. Constantine noted that his district included the cities of Burien, Normandy Park, SeaTac and Tukwila, and he had been endorsed by many suburban mayors.

The candidates were so intent on hitting these central themes that they sidestepped or gave short shrift to some questions such as: what specific steps would you take to be a champion for the south county?