Once More, with Feeling

Lisa Wong and Thomas Donnelly will meet in their fifth formal debate tonight -- on top of a handful of neighborhood forums, a number of speaking of engagement, and thousands of home visits -- in their last head-to-head showdown before Tuesday's election.

Say what you want about about the candidates, but there's no doubt these two have been very well vetted over the last six months. The issues have been poked and picked over endlessly, and the messages and bullet points of Donnelly and Wong are just about memorized.

That's a good thing. Make no doubt, the next mayor is going to have not only tough decisions to make, but tough decisions that are going to extremely important to the future of the city. Neither candidate will be able to say they eased into office.

So tonight it will be the last roundup. Wong fans will want her to look in control, confident, and visionary. Donnelly fans will want him to look experienced, prepared, and ready to get to work. Wong critics will want to pick at her inexperience and the general feeling that her talk doesn't match her intentions. Donnelly critics will want to define him as part of the problem and over his head. Really, at this point, doesn't that about cover it?

The debate kicks off at 6:30 at Fitchburg State College, and will be live on FATV. We're going to try to cover it live at the Fitchburg Pride website. We had problems at FSC last time, but have been told we should be clear for takeoff tonight. We'll update here when we're up and ready this evening.

So, join us, won't you, for the last big stage for the candidates before this thing goes to the voters. You've come this far, why stop now?