About Last Night

A few thoughts on last night's gubernatorial debate, the first time all four candidates got together.

This is going to be one hell of a campaign. Kerry Healey made it clear last night she's going after Deval Patrick and going after him hard. She's owned the conversation in the last week, and until Patrick figures out how to get the news cycle on his side, she will continue to do so. She has the same steely-eyed focus and backbone that let Cellucci and Romney pound away mercilessly throughout their campaigns.

That said, Healey didn't come off well last night. She was defensive at times, uncouth at others when she tried to blatantly ignore Christy Mihos. When she did engage Mihos, her attempts at brushing him aside came off nasty and rude. She didn't answer Patrick's repeated note that the Romney/Healey team raised fees by $900 million, and she was absolutely buried on the Big Dig talk.

It's 3-on-1. Grace Ross clearly likes Deval Patrick. Mihos can't stand Healey. Patrick is running against Healey. It was gang-up time on Healey last night, and she only weathered the storm OK. This is particularly good news for Patrick, who can sit above the fray and let Ross and Mihos beat the living daylight out of Healey. These four-way debates are not good for Healey at all. Ross is charmingly critical of Healey, but Mihos is the dog that has clamped on and won't let go.

Grace Ross was the winner of the night in terms of surpassing expectations. She wasn't loony, she was thoughtful, she stayed on message, and she made some good points. Her facts were a bit fuzzy in some parts (we really don't think 25 percent of high school students are dropping out, but we could be wrong), but she did a great, great job in our book. Mihos was, um, spirited, particularly in the second half. But didn't come across as completely crazy. He still has six weeks to pull that off.

The big winner was Patrick. He was most at ease, he spoke comfortably and controlled. He made his points well and parried Healey as well. He also gets the added benefit of knowing that any time he's on stage with all four at once, Healey is in trouble from here on out.