PORTLAND (AP) — One of the six candidates seeking U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe’s empty seat pulled a smartphone out of his pocket and removed a shoe from his foot Thursday evening to make a point during one of the final three debates before Election Day in the Senate race.

Independent Steve Woods of Yarmouth was addressing a question about whether education was providing young people with the right skills to succeed in the economy when he pulled out the props.

Woods said the education system needs to produce skills needed for high-tech jobs like software for smartphones and not Maine’s shoe industry, which has seen well-known brands such as G.H. Bass, Cole Haan, Sebago and Dexter move production out of the country.

“We need to be closer to this,” he said, holding up his phone,” than this,” he said, holding up a shoe, during the debate seen by a statewide television audience.

Woods was joined during the debate sponsored by Maine Public Broadcasting Network in Gracie Auditorium by Republican Charlie Summers, Democrat Cynthia Dill and independents Angus King, Andrew Ian Dodge and Danny Dalton. It was the first of three consecutive debates.

Only two candidates — Dill and Woods — stated unequivocally that they would support taxpayer funding for public television. The debate also touched on some other themes including President Barack Obama’s health care reform, taxation and government spending, energy and climate change, and Social Security and Medicare.

King, who said none of those problems can be addressed because Congress is broken, suggested he can help get Congress back on track as a senator who’s not beholden to a party.

“Whatever we believe about those issues, Congress isn’t working,” he said. “If you think (Congress) is working, I’m not your guy,” he added. “If you want to make a run at fixing it, then I’m your guy.”

Repeating criticism from past debates, Summers accused King of increasing government spending by 50 percent during two terms as governor and leaving the next governor with a shortfall. He said the governor “needs to be someone who’s willing to lead and to cut spending.”

Dill, who said Congress was held hostage by filibuster threats and political extremists, was more blunt than usual in telling the audience that the Senate needs more younger people and women such as herself and not an “extremely wealthy, older white man” like King.

“Washington is broken because of extreme politics and extreme wealth,” she said, describing King and Summers as the “status quo.”

Dalton, in his closing statement, was equally blunt in attacking the mainstream parties.

“It’s disgusting. I don’t know how you people can stand here and vote for the two parties,” he said, adding that, “The whole system is dysfunctional. You need to get people in there who aren’t taking money from major lobby groups.”