CLEVELAND, Ohio - The kid gloves have finally come off in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

It was evident during the Tuesday meeting of the Democratic gubernatorial candidates - ex-Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, state Sen. Joe Schiavoni and former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O'Neill - in front of the cleveland.com and Plain Dealer editorial board.

Cordray and Kucinich in particular have been jabbing at each other from afar during the campaign, releasing statements and opposition research critical of one another, but never fully coming to blows in a public setting. In the only debate thus far to feature the gubernatorial slate, they mostly avoided outright attacking each other.

That wasn't the case Tuesday.

Watch the full editorial board below:

4 Democratic gubernatorial candidates interview with cleveland.com's Editorial Board Watch 4 Democratic gubernatorial candidates interview with cleveland.com's Editorial Board: Dennis Kucinich, Richard Cordray, Bill O'Neill and Joe Schiavoni. Posted by cleveland.com on Tuesday, April 3, 2018

The attacks started early with some barbs traded back and forth. But the heated moment came more than an hour into the interviews, when Cordray emphasized his executive experience (about 1:09:00 into the Facebook Live video).

"In my case, I've been an executive official now for the last 15 years," Cordray said. "None of these others can say that. The only one who's been an executive official is Dennis when he was mayor of Cleveland 40 years ago, and we know how that was."

Cordray was referring to the tumultuous tenure of Kucinich, which famously saw the city go into default over Kucinich's refusal to sell Muny Light.

Kucinich defended himself by saying he took a stand against to save Muny Light from being gobbled up by special interests.

"Now with respect to the observation of Mr. Cordray, based on your record, sir, I don't know if you would be the one to defend the electric system," Kucinich said. "Because the fact of the matter is you deserted your post in the consumer financial protection board."

Kucinich said Cordray's decision to resign so he could run for governor handed the CFPB to the Republicans and President Donald Trump, who have sought to neuter the agency since taking it over. This move, Kucinich said, allowed payday lenders to get off the hook for bilking consumers out of millions of dollars.

"I've been in the crucible," Kucinich said. "I don't shy from the heat. But I also know that if we're going to compare things, let's make an honest comparison about what actually has happened."

That wasn't the end of the acrimonious exchange between the two frontrunners.

"First of all, to say you were in the crucible, you created the problems in Cleveland," Cordray said. "The city did not have to go into financial default and that was a black eye for Cleveland, and has been ever since. So when you talk about how much money you saved -- you cost the city of Cleveland dearly. They didn't get out of default for eight years. Gov. (George) Voinovich also saved Muny Light, but he did it by restructuring the debt in a way that was constructive rather than the face-down you got yourself into because you couldn't figure out how to solve the problem."

Cordray criticized several other issues with Kucinich's two years as mayor - including his decision to lay off 400 police officers and firefighters, and his hiring of a 24-year-old finance director.

Cordray also defended his decision to leave the CFPB, saying it took him so long to get into the governor's race because he wanted to implement payday lending reform.

But Cordray's criticism of Kucinich wasn't over.

"When you were in the General Assembly, you voted for the initial law that created payday lending in Ohio," Cordray said. "So now to talk about how you're going to defend us against payday lending and the five payday lenders that exploit people in your community -- they never would've gotten started if you hadn't voted for that law in the first place."

"You can talk about who's standing up to powerful interests," Cordray continued. "I have done it. And I have done it in a constructive way. Not in a way that put the city of Cleveland into a black-eye situation for years and years."

All told, the interaction was less than 10 minutes. But it was telling of where the Democratic primary has headed in recent weeks.

Cordray was once seen as the odds-on favorite in the race. But as gun regulations have become a major focus of Democratic politics since a high-profile February school shooting in Parkland, Fla., Cordray's grasp on the nomination seems to have slipped.

He hasn't been in line with much of the Democratic Party's base on guns, and Kucinich seized on the opportunity, making it one of his key issues.

And if the polling numbers are accurate, it seems to be working. A recent poll from SurveyUSA showed Kucinich and Cordray tied in the Democratic primary, with a large portion of the electorate undecided.

While Cordray and Kucinich focused on each other, O'Neill stressed his differences with the other three candidates - including the fact that he is the only Democratic candidate who is anti-abortion.

Schiavoni said he was the only candidate who voters could contrast with Attorney General Mike DeWine, the frontrunner of the Republican gubernatorial primary. Schiavoni said his relative youth - at 38 years old - gave him an advantage compared to the other three, who he said had been running for office "for more than 100 years."

Tuesday's display between Cordray and Kucinich might just be the beginning in the run-up to the May 8 primary. The candidates still have one more Ohio Democratic Party debate next week in Southwest Ohio.