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Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Neil Abercrombie and Republican counterpart James “Duke” Aiona on Tuesday made their first joint appearance since they became their parties’ nominees, exactly five weeks before the general election.

Speaking to hundreds of industry experts at the 2010 Hawaii Energy Expo, Aiona jumped right into specifics while Abercrombie dealt in generalities. The audience responded more positively to the lieutenant governor than to the former congressman.

Aiona highlighted the results of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative launched by the Lingle-Aiona administration and pointed to key differences between his energy policies and Abercrombie’s.

Abercrombie, juggling other campaign events, was the second to arrive and the first to leave. The order of the speeches was reversed to accommodate schedules, event organizers said. Upon his arrival, Abercrombie headed almost immediately to the stage in the Hilton Hawaiian Village’s Coral Ballroom and delivered a rambling address.

He told the crowd that the expo was not a political rally and that he wasn’t there to compete with Aiona. He said there’s very little difference between the two on energy policy.

“I want to pay tribute to the Lingle administration,” Abercrombie said before correcting himself, “the Lingle-Aiona administration.”

Abercrombie read from the same 30-year-old letter that many of the same energy industry leaders heard him recite less than four months ago at the . He spoke of guiding principles and the urgency of kicking the state’s dependence on imported oil.

And he highlighted the main pillar of his energy policy: an independent Hawaii energy authority to take over some of the responsibilities of the and the Hawaii Energy Office. He said that dozens of clean-energy projects are being held up by government red tape.

Here’s a snippet of Abercrombie’s speech:

Aiona’s style was almost the polar opposite. Dressed in a suit and tie to Abercrombie’s aloha shirt, Aiona was all business. And while Abercrombie spoke largely in generalities and pitched the event as apolitical, Aiona peppered numerical data and policy details into his prepared speech and made a point of drawing distinctions between the two.

“This reorganization (of the Public Utilities Commission and the Hawaii Energy Office) is just bad policy as it will take focus away from the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative,” Aiona said.

He said concentrating all the power in the hands of the state and taking power away from the utilities commission was part of Abercrombie’s “philosophy that government should determine everything” and would be a “mistake … akin to merging judge and jury with the prosecutor’s office.”

Aiona said he’d deploy the full barrel tax revenue to promote clean energy and local food production rather than diverting any to the state’s general fund. He made a pitch for the Property Assessed Clean Energy program that the administration pushed this past session before it died in the Hawaii Legislature.

And he promised his administration would cut Hawaii’s dependence on imported oil in half — keeping billions of dollars in the local economy — by 2018.

Here’s a snippet of Aiona’s speech:

The reception the two candidates’ received was also noticeably different and a contrast to the audience’s response at the Hawaii Clean Energy Day in early June. At that event, Abercrombie and Aiona (but not then-Mayor Mufi Hannemann) gave short remarks, and some in the crowd criticized Aiona for the administration’s policies. The vibe was decidedly pro-Abercrombie.

On Tuesday, Abercrombie took the stage to a smattering of cheers and he joked that he’d received “scattered applause.” When he attempted the traditional “Alooooooooooooha” greeting, it felt flat. Aiona’s “Alooooooooooooha” drew a strong audience reply, and Aiona teased Abercrombie, then on his way out of the ballroom, that it’s all in the delivery.