Tonight marks the final debate between Boston mayoral hopefuls Marty Walsh and John Connolly. It’s been a hard-fought race with both candidates keeping Boston’s best interests at heart, but tonight is the last event in which they’ll go head-to-head to try and explain why they deserve your vote to replace Tom Menino in City Hall. For Marty Walsh, a conveyance of specifics and reassurance that he won’t heed to outside influence is crucial to keeping momentum and possibly taking home a win next week.
In the last two televised debates, John Connolly came out of the gate earlier and called out Walsh on stances he considers detrimental to Boston; the first being the state Rep’s strong union ties and the possibility of them taking precedent when it comes to Walsh’s proposed policy, and the second being the Walsh camp’s alleged negative campaign ads targeted towards Connolly.
Walsh shrugged off both backhanded claims, simply stating that he won’t bend to the needs of unions and will do everything in his power to stop the ads.
With campaigning soon coming to an end with both parties having claimed the other approved negative ads against the other, Walsh’s union stigma in tandem with his tendency to generalize issues, likely due in part to his regional approach to achieving the municipal seat, could take precedent in this debate. For him to wield his union heritage to the benefit of his campaign, he could choose to highlight how he’ll put his negotiation expertise to use and find compromise with other officials rather than, as Connolly has said in the past, “draw a line in the sand.”
He also needs to speak in specifics in order to properly outline his intended policies. Unlike the first two debates, which coincided with the Red Sox playoffs and World Series run, there’s the likelihood for a more expansive audience tuning in via TV. So where he may have gotten away with touching on issues in a broad sense, it can only be advantageous for him to quell any public notions of himself as a lone delegator with big-picture ideals as opposed to someone who is in on the nitty-gritty details.
As for one candidate taking an aggressive approach from the start, it’s not clear at this point whether Walsh will do so or not. He’s done well by playing on the defensive and sticking to campaigning on the streets as opposed to blatantly calling out Connolly for any shortcomings, as evidenced by him having closed any polling gaps to a dead-heat so it shouldn’t be seen as concerning if this trend continues.
BostInno will be attending the debate live so be sure to tune in for the latest coverage and check us out on Twitter for live updates from the event.
Related:
Coffee with Marty Walsh: BostInno & NEVCA from Streetwise Media on Vimeo.
