A joint forum on energy issues with Virginia’s main gubernatorial hopefuls devolved into sharply personal attacks Thursday as businessman Terry McAuliffe and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II veered off the topic to heap scorn on each other.

In back-to-back appearances at an Arlington County gathering sponsored by the Consumer Energy Alliance, McAuliffe (D) accused Cuccinelli (R) of being an “ideologue” whose social views would drive business from the commonwealth, and Cuccinelli painted his opponent as a flip-flopper with the cloud of a federal investigation over his head.

Energy issues have been at the heart of many of the most contentious debates in the contest, and each man has used the subject to raise questions about the other’s integrity.

Cuccinelli spoke at length about GreenTech, an electric-car company co-founded by McAuliffe that is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for its use of a federal program that gives special visas to foreign investors in U.S. companies.