FLINT, MI -- As Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders struggled to differentiate themselves on the auto industry at Sunday night's debate, Clinton lobbed her first major barb at Sanders over his vote against the auto bailout.

"He voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry. I think that is a pretty big difference," Clinton charged.

Sanders responded that there were good parts and bad parts of the bill, and his vote was against bailing out big banks on Wall Street. He threw Clinton's previous support for trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement back at her.

"I understood that these trade agreements were going to destroy the middle class of this country," Sanders said. "...That is one of the major differences that we have."

The two met at the University of Michigan-Flint's Whiting auditorium Sunday night in a debate with media co-hosts CNN and The Flint Journal/MLive.

While bailout and free trade issues surrounding the auto industry may do a little to differentiate the candidates, overall those differences were few and far between at Sunday's debate.

"I think that's a highlight of the debate is that there's not a huge amount of substantive difference between the two of them," said Aaron Kall, Director of Debate at the University of Michigan.

Sanders last week tried to paint himself as the best candidate for opposing trade deals he says shipped jobs overseas. Clinton, meanwhile, delivered her own address on jobs and the economy at an auto part manufacturer in Detroit.

Both Democratic candidates oppose the latest trade deal on the national table, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Paul Kanan said the auto issue was key in Michigan.

"I think overall the key issue for us here in Michigan and particularly Detroit when it comes to perspective on the auto industry, these two candidates, both of our Democratic candidates, were in support of President Obama's auto rescue," Kanan said.

Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said in November Republicans would top either of the candidates.

"I didn't really see the differences, they went back and forth on the auto bailout and he considered it a Wall Street bailout. The Democratic voters in Michigan are going to have to decide that and ultimately in November all the voters in Michigan are going to have to decide on that issue," Romney-McDaniel said.

Also in Michigan last week, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump was outspoken about his opposition to the TPP and outsourcing of auto jobs.

Other issues the candidates addressed at Sunday's debate included:

The Flint water crisis - Clinton joined Sanders in calling for Gov. Rick Snyder to resign over his handling of the Flint water crisis.

Gun violence - The candidates responded to a question on what they would do to decrease gun violence from Gene Kopf, the father of a 14-year-old recovering from a gunshot wound in Kalamazoo's recent shooting.

Emily Lawler is a Capitol reporter on MLive's statewide Impact Team. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.