Imagine a baseball game where one team scores ten runs in the first inning. Officially, the game isn't over, but everyone 'knows' it is.
That's what this mayoral debate was like. It was over minutes after it began. The Boston Mayoral Race is an image contest between State Representative Marty Walsh, a union-connected candidate, and City Councilor John Connolly, a former teacher.
The first question to Representative Walsh was about a negative campaign flier, which was circulated by a labor group that supports him, and calls Connolly "a son of privilege."
Representative Walsh apologized, saying he wants the fliers to get off the streets, and Connolly pounced.
"I've told the people doing this to stop doing it. I never engaged in this type of campaigning, and I never will engage in this type of campaigning. It's wrong, and it's something I'm very upset about" stated Representative Walsh.
"Marty has premised his campaign on the notion that because he's a labor leader," responded Connolly, "He's going to get labor leaders to do things they don't normally do, and they're going to listen to him; and there he is on Saturday saying, stop doing this- two more pieces of mail today. They're not listening to you now, how will we know they'll listen to you when you're actually mayor?"
If that wasn't a home run for Connolly, it was a triple; and it was more than enough to make him the winner, because it set the tone of this debate. Connolly was confident, while Walsh often looked tight, though a Red Sox tie loosened him up a bit.
The good news for both Walsh and Connolly is that the World Series has to end by October 31st, which would give them four days to be the number one game in town before November fifth's election.