By Elise Harmon, news correspondent
The two weeks before the Nov. 4 election have been busy for the top two gubernatorial candidates, according to polls, as they made television appearances, traveled around Mass., talked to voters and participated in three debates.
Republican candidate Charlie Baker and Democrat Martha Coakley squared off in multiple venues over the course of the week, but the three independent candidates – Scott Lively, Evan Falchuk and Jeff McCormick – were only invited to one, a debate hosted by El Mundo Boston at Northeastern on Friday.
Current governor Deval Patrick received an award for his commitment and support of the Latino community at the event, which featured questions on issues important to the Latino population in Boston.
“I don’t think that the work we’re doing is anything less than you can expect,” Patrick said at the event, which took place in Blackman Auditorium. “You should expect your governor to see you.”
The idea of the governor “seeing” the Latino community was reiterated many times over the course of the debate – especially by Coakley and the panel of journalists who served as moderators. These included Marcela Garcia, a Boston Globe op-ed contributor; Yadires Nova-Salcedo, a WBZ correspondent; Sara Suarez, an Entravision news anchor; and Alberto Vasallo of El Mundo.
Topics ranged from Latino employment in government to higher education costs and providing licenses for undocumented immigrants to the gentrification of Boston’s low-income neighborhoods.
All the candidates agreed that the government needs more diversity, that education costs are too high for today’s students and that gentrification is a problem. The real debate occurred over the solutions to these issues, as well as over immigration reform.
In terms of higher education, candidates all had slightly different ideas on how to deal with rising costs.
McCormick emphasized the importance of Advanced Placement tests and forming partnerships with private businesses for scholarship and internship opportunities.
“It’s very expensive and the cost for borrowing is very expensive,” Coakley said.
She asserted that the state has the responsibility to lower both tuition and fees for state schools, and suggested need-blind admission for two-year schools.
Baker mentioned implementing three-year degree programs in state schools and emphasizing online education so students working full time could “do work when they needed to work and take class when they had time to do classes.”
Falchuk suggested increasing grants to schools and students, while Lively agreed with Baker about self-directed, online learning.
The biggest controversy of the night was when Garcia asked about licensing for undocumented immigrants and immigration reform. Baker, who does not support licensing, said that as governor, he would want to be a part of a coalition to put pressure on the federal government to implement comprehensive immigration reform.
“Cities and states are trying to come up with semi-solutions on how to deal with the federal government’s issues,” Baker said, adding that federal legislators aren’t aware that the “consequences of all the issues is on the people that live in this country, and the state officials, and the local officials.”
Coakley disagreed with this approach, saying that state officials have been trying to pressure the federal government for years to no effect. Instead, she suggested instituting reform in Mass. in the hope that it will catch on in other states and eventually reach the federal level.
“States are laboratories of democracy,” she said. “And that’s where we see things first.”
Falchuk agreed with McCormick. Falchuk said that action has to be taken on a state level while McCormick commented that undocumented immigrants shouldn’t have to live their lives in fear.
The crowd reacted negatively to Lively when he suggested that illegal immigration is like cutting in line at the DMV and being rewarded for it.
The event ended with the candidates fielding questions from the crowd, which included local residents and Northeastern students.
Friday also featured Hillary Clinton arriving in Boston to campaign for Martha Coakley after traveling throughout New England. She held a rally at the Park Plaza Hotel in downtown Boston in which she talked about women’s issues, including the wage gap, child care services, reproductive rights and Question 4, which would allow employees to earn sick time.
On Monday night, the two major-party candidates debated in Worcester, followed by a televised debate on Tuesday. The two debates covered many of the same topics as the candidates responded to criticisms and aggressively questioned each other’s qualifications and morals. Falchuk filed a lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court to debate at Worcester, claiming that he was initially invited but that the offer was later retracted. He alleged a breach of contract against the event’s organizers.
For the Tuesday debate, the Northeastern University Democrats hosted Governor Patrick before a viewing of the WCVB stream.
“This election is not about polls,” he told the group. “Not about editorials, not about candidates, not about anything really, except about you.”
He spoke about some of the challenges associated with being governor and took questions before posing for photos with students.
During the debate, Baker and Coakley both responded to controversies that have arisen during the campaign. Coakley has been accused of avoiding investigating Sal DiMasi, a former state representative who was ultimately convicted of receiving kickbacks from a software company by a federal court.
Meanwhile, Baker has been accused of engaging in a pay-to-play scheme after donating $10,000 to the New Jersey Republican Party in 2011. Later, the New Jersey pension fund invested $15 million with a Cambridge-based firm where Baker worked. Coakley questioned why Baker didn’t release his employment contract with the firm.
Candidates also debated the future of Child Protective Services, Ebola hysteria, the extraordinarily high investment in political ads by super PACs and immigration.
In the second section of the debate, the candidates had the opportunity to ask each other questions. Coakley accused Baker of outsourcing jobs to India as an executive at Harvard Pilgrim, while Baker questioned Coakley’s support of allowing non-citizens to vote in municipal elections.
Trying to one-up each other, both agreed not to raise state income tax or to raise fees.
The third part of the debate featured a lightning round in which the candidates quickly answered questions such as whether they generally considered themselves insiders or outsiders, when was the last time they cried and what they considered to be the others’ best and worst ideas.
Northeastern students watching the debate had mixed views on the candidates’ performances.
Christian Jepsen, a third-year political science major, was disappointed with Coakley’s performance after she bungled the question of whether she would raise fees.
“It’s too bad,” he said. “I just find it odd that we’re such a blue state and we’re in such a neck and neck race for the governorship.”
Senior Marvin McMoore, a political science major and president of the College Democrats of Massachusetts, disagreed, saying that he thought Coakley did really well. McMoore arranged the session with Patrick, and has been to four colleges in the last two days helping to campaign and promote voting.
“People say that college students are apathetic,” he said. “But I’ve been all over the state in the past few days and students are really, really fired up.”
Right now, polls are tight for the two major candidates. A poll by the New York Times and CBS News collecting data from Oct. 16 – 23 put Coakley at 45 percent of the vote and Baker at 41, while a Boston Globe poll collecting data from Oct. 19-22 put Baker nine points ahead, with 45 percent of the vote.
Whatever happens Tuesday, both candidates are glad to have the opportunity to run.
“I would not have traded it for anything,” said Coakley at Tuesday’s debate. “It’s been an honor to run for governor.”
Baker agreed, saying that he enjoyed being able to talk to voters and hear their stories.
Photo by Maria Amasanti
