Six weeks out from the nation’s marquee election of 2013, Cuccinelli and McAuliffe will step on stage in McLean tonight for a high-stakes debate to be moderated by NBC’s Chuck Todd.

Both candidates have been dogged by controversy of late — Cuccinelli over his far-right profile on social issues and gifts he accepted from a scandal-plagued donor, McAuliffe over some business ventures gone south and a blown endorsement — and they’ve done their best to change the subject.

( PHOTOS: Ken Cuccinelli’s career)

Here are 10 questions the candidates would just as soon not have to answer at the 60-minute showdown hosted by the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce.

For McAuliffe:

1. Why won’t you just admit that you’re with Obama on coal?

McAuliffe has refused to take a position on the just-proposed Environmental Protection Agency rules for new coal-fired power plants. Even though the contours of President Barack Obama’s effort to cut carbon emissions have been public for weeks, McAuliffe continues to say he needs time to study them.

The Democrat is in a bind: Embrace the push, and alienate a big bloc of voters in rural Southwest Virginia. Criticize the rules as overreach, and alienate interests spending millions on his behalf.

Most coal-state Democrats came out strongly against the rules, but McAuliffe received $1.4 million in itemized and in-kind contributions from environmental groups through the end of last month. The Virginia League of Conservation Voters, a champion of new rules, cut McAuliffe a $900,000 check in July.

2. Have you really cut off your ties to GreenTech?

McAuliffe has said he left GreenTech early last December and was unaware of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into the startup’s use of a visa program to get financing.

( PHOTOS: Terry McAuliffe’s career)

A front-page story in The Washington Post on Sunday reported that the company was telling prospective investors in March that McAuliffe remains “chairman emeritus” and the largest individual shareholder. Congress is looking at whether McAuliffe tried to get the company special treatment from the Department of Homeland Security.

The Democrat has already taken hits for wildly inflated promises about how many jobs the company would create and for choosing to put the factory in Mississippi.

3. Would you actually shut down state government to expand Medicaid?

McAuliffe has saidhe would not sign a state budget from the Republican Legislature unless it includes an expansion of Medicaid to cover 400,000 more Virginians.

He has subsequently tried to clarify that he doesn’t support a shutdown and denied he ever did. But the GOP says there’s no chance they’ll expand the program and suggests that McAuliffe would try to hold the state hostage to advance his ideological agenda.

4. Do you really believe you could bring Republicans on board by taking them out for beers?

The Northern Virginia Technology Council’s political arm endorsed Cuccinelli last week despite an aggressive Democratic push to get them to hold off. Sources told the Post that McAuliffe seemed unprepared and unable to articulate his policy positions during their interview. He reportedly said he would be good at wooing Republicans to support his agenda because, as an Irish Catholic, he could invite them over for drinks.

( Also on POLITICO: Clintonworld after-party for McAuliffe)

A major Republican line of attack is that McAuliffe is unserious and naive about what it takes to run a state government. They have built this narrative all year, including when McAuliffe would not (or could not) answer a Virginian-Pilot reporter’s request that he name the positions in a governor’s cabinet.

5. How are you going to pay for all your proposed new spending?

McAuliffe has spent the year promising costly new programs and initiatives, but he’s been vague about how he would balance the books. He wants to raise teacher salaries, expand pre-K and make college more affordable. On Monday in Richmond, he outlined a plan to invest in urban renewal with more money for public transit and mental health.

He claims expanding Medicaid would net the state $500 million in savings, but many doubt that claim. Even the Post editorial board, which will probably endorse McAuliffe, called him out last Friday for being unrealistic.

( Also on POLITICO: Polls show McAuliffe with the edge)

For Cuccinelli:

1. Would you shut down the federal government to defund Obamacare?

Cuccinelli officials said last week they are talking with Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican leading the controversial effort, about a joint rally during the home stretch. The candidate has often ducked taking positions on federal issues, like immigration, by saying he is not in Congress.

Polls show voters oppose Cruz’s brinkmanship, but Cuccinelli risks alienating his conservative base — which he’s counting on in a low-turnout election — if he avoids getting the senator’s back.

Meanwhile, current Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, came out against threatening to shut down the federal government on WTOP Tuesday. “We can’t hold federal workers and our federal government hostage with that,” he said.

2. Why do you want to make it harder to get divorced?

Cuccinelli trailed by 18 percentage points among women in a new NBC/Marist poll, which showed him down 5 points overall. He has tried to avoid discussing social issues during the campaign, but his political identity is closely identified with opposition to abortion and gay marriage.

McAuliffe has run the “war on women” playbook, saying Cuccinelli wants to limit birth control and give fathers more rights in custody disputes. An adairing frequently this month highlights a bill Cuccinelli introduced as a state senator that would have made it more difficult to divorce without mutual consent. Cuccinelli believes the state has an interest in marital preservation.

3. Will you apologize for your office helping energy companies in their fight with Virginia landowners?

An assistant attorney general gave advice to lawyers for energy companies defending themselves against a lawsuit over gas royalties in Southwest Virginia. McAuliffe ads note that a parent company, Consol Energy, donated more than $100,000 to Cuccinelli’s campaign.

Cuccinelli’s office has said the woman who wrote the emails was in a field office and not directed to help the lawyers, but the AG’s office has dragged its feet on releasing additional email correspondence that could shed light.

In another donor controversy, Cuccinelli has been dogged by thousands of dollars in gifts he accepted from Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams. His recent donation to charity to offset the gifts was designed to put the issue to rest, but it’s unlikely to go away completely.

4. Why have so many Republicans endorsed your opponent?

The Republican mayor of Virginia Beach, the state’s largest city, endorsed McAuliffe last week. Will Sessoms said he thinks McAuliffe will be more accessible and praised his support for investing in transportation. Cuccinelli opposed February’s big bipartisan compromise on the issue.

Sessoms’s the latest of more than 30 notable GOP defections. Among those backing McAuliffe are Dwight Schar, former Republican National Committee finance chairman, and Boyd Marcus, a longtime adviser to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Cuccinelli’s camp can dismiss some, but not all, as Republicans In Name Only or on McAuliffe’s payroll.

McAuliffe is leading on poll questions about who will be more likely to work across party lines to get things done.

5. Do you agree with E.W. Jackson that [fill in the blank]?

Jackson, an unabashedly conservative Chesapeake minister, stunned the establishment with an upset victory in a seven-way field at the May Republican state convention.

He’s made hundreds of controversial statements over the years, including suggesting in his 2008 bookthat yoga could open people up to Satan.

He said in a sermon on Sunday that non-Christians are practicing “some sort of false religion.” Last Thursday, he said at a rally recorded by a Democratic tracker that Cuccinelli would like to get rid of the corporate income tax, even though publicly he is only calling to reduce it to 4 percent.

Cuccinelli has said he will not defend his running mate’s statements at every turn, and they will appear on the ballot separately. But the two appeared jointly at a GOP unity breakfast the weekend before last.

“It’s great to be here with the whole ticket,” Cuccinelli said. “As E.W. said, we’re running together and we’re running hard.”