I didn’t see all of the debate last night but I did hear most of it on the radio as well as saw some video clips on the news. My overall impression is that the format sucked. A one minute response time for one candidate followed by only 30 seconds for rebuttal for the other 3 candidates was not enough time to dig into the issues and get past all the fluffy campaign slogans and usual sound bites. It was especially annoying when one candidate talked (or yelled) repeatedly during another candidate’s turn.

That of course brings me to Christy Mihos. I’ve listened to Christy Mihos many times on the Howie Carr show over the last few years and respected his take on the Big Dig and thought he got the shaft from Jane Swift. But after last nights debate I have lost all respect for him. He came across like Howard Dean on steroids. It is clear to me now that he is in this race to settle a score with the Mass GOP. He has no chance of winning but if his goal is to take out Healey, he might just be successful. That of course would be bad news for the rest of us. If he truly cared about this state, he would get out of this race and work to prevent a return to the Dukakis years. Instead he focused all of his energy on Healey and practically ignored Patrick.

Kerry Healey did as well as could be expected in these circumstances. She was composed, kept her cool and for the most part stayed on message. She is going to have to be more forceful though in future debates.

Deval Patrick was able to sit back and watch. He threw out things that sound great on paper like lowering property taxes but failed to say how he would accomplish that. It is extremely naive to assume that cities and towns would lower their property tax rates just because the state decided to send more money their way. It’s much more likely that the cities and towns would spend all of the money from both sources. After all, how often does a government voluntarily return money to the people? They always find a way to spend that money. Of all people, Deval Patrick should know that since he won’t commit to lowering the income tax to the voter approved rate of 5%.

As for Grace Ross, who really cares how she did?

The remaining debates should between the two candidates who actually have a chance of winning this race so that the voters can get a clear airing of the candidate’s views and make their choice. Heck, even the Boston Globe agrees with me on that point.

Last night’s gubernatorial debate succeeded in an odd contortion: It demonstrated both the value of including all the candidates on the ballot in at least one televised forum and also the argument for narrowing the field. Voters will definitely be best served if the next debate is for contenders only.

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Although lively, this was a warm-up for a debate between the contenders. Mihos might qualify some day. But last night, only Healey and Patrick met that standard.

Archived in: Big Dig, Christy Mihos, Deval Patrick, Howard Dean, Income Tax, Kerry Healey, Property Taxes, Taxes