The economy, the Big Dig and &- oddly enough &- movie stars were the topics of Monday’s televised gubernatorial debate, the final showdown between the four candidates before Election Day on Nov. 2.
ABC anchor Charlie Gibson sat Republican Charlie Baker, independent Tim Cahill, incumbent Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick and Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein at a round table for the debate, making for an intimate, if sometimes testy, political conversation.
As Gibson put it, the driving issue behind this year’s race has been jobs, as statewide unemployment is at a high despite the nation’s gradual economic recovery.
“Ordinary people are struggling,” said Stein.
She went on to cite the creation of more green jobs in Massachusetts as a solution, arguing that the jobs would “pay for themselves.”
Cahill took the small business route, saying that he “wants to bring government to the middle class.”
Cahill claimed that he had an advantage over the other candidates because, unlike him, “none of the others have ever started a business before.”
“They see things from the top down,” he said.
After Baker emphasized the need for reducing the deficit while keeping taxes low, Gibson brought up a memo written by Baker in 1998 during his tenure as Massachusetts budget chief that showed the Boston highway project, the Big Dig, was going to put an large dent in the transportation budget.
Patrick was also forced to defend himself when Gibson pointed out that there are fewer people employed in Massachusetts today than there were four years ago when Patrick assumed office.
“It’s been a global economic collapse, and I don’t think any one of us could have prevented that from happening,” Patrick said.
The debate also went into such issues as reducing health care costs, gun control, population losses to other states and immigration.
However, these issues were not the only topics of Monday night’s discussion.
About halfway through the debate, Gibson briefly departed from serious political talk and asked each candidate what they thought was the single most important virtue of the human race. Cahill’s response was “loyalty.”
But when asked what they thought was the single most underrated virtue of the human race, Baker’s response was also “loyalty.”
In early October, Cahill’s running mate, Paul Loscocco, defected from the campaign only to immediately endorse Baker. Three of Cahill’s other prominent advisers have also deserted the campaign in recent months.
From there, Gibson asked the candidates about their favorite movie stars &- Patrick said Halle Berry with apologies to his wife, Cahill said Jack Nicholson, Baker said any Pixar movie and Stein seemed flustered by the question.
Partrick narrowly leads Baker in most polls, with Cahill and Stein distantly behind.
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