Preferring poetry to patronizing

DEVAL PATRICK'S Teflon is still intact.

During last night's fourth and final televised debate, Republican Kerry Healey challenged the Democrat's truthfulness. She pressed on the issue of returning the state to one-party rule and criticized Patrick for a package of spending proposals she insists would lead to higher taxes. She questioned his credentials as a prosecutor. She even suggested that Patrick's support for allowing illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses would allow them to "disappear into society to get on airplanes."

Despite her best efforts, she barely scratched the surface of Patrick's feel-good veneer. He talked, as always, about leadership. He ducked questions about how he will balance the budget and reduce property taxes. And he spoke about not needing to scare people into voting for him, a reference to the Healey campaign's reliance on negative advertising.

Healey, who is trailing Patrick according to recent polls, began the debate with a smile and more mellow approach. But quickly, it was back to attack mode. In Healey's case, this ends up as a combination of patronizing her opponents in general while going after Patrick in particular.

The inclusion of independent Christy Mihos and Green-Rainbow candidate Grace Ross remains a problem for Healey. Mihos and Ross gang up on her, while Patrick sits back. As Healey gets frustrated, she adopts a haughty tone that is not easy to take. Last night, Healey was back on her high horse, and that's not a good place for her to be less than a week before Election Day.

In one example, when Mihos challenged Healey's statement from the previous debate that the student/teacher ratio is 13 to 1 in public schools, Healey sniped back, "I'm a little embarrassed I have to explain this to you."

When this gubernatorial campaign is finally over and the voters have made their choice, the debates that included all four candidates will have played a key role in the outcome. Future Republican and Democratic candidates will have to think hard about signing on to a similar series.

Patrick and Healey never faced off in a head-to-head debate, and that clearly worked to the Democrat's advantage. Mihos, in particular, took some of the hardest shots at Healey during these debates, sparing Patrick from the task of trying to undermine her.

The Democrat had the luxury of staying likable and, for the most part, above the fray. Healey had the burden of being part of an unpopular administration and a personal difficulty in displaying a common touch. That, plus her campaign's decision to stick with a negative advertising campaign, made it difficult to separate Patrick from his Teflon.

But connecting with voters is Healey's real problem. Consider the question from moderator Cokie Roberts seeking the candidates' definition of government's role. Healey said government's chief role is "safety," which is certainly a component; later she added public education. Patrick spoke more broadly: "I think government is about helping us help ourselves." It's not there to solve every problem; there's a place alongside personal responsibility "for shared responsibility."

During a previous debate, Ross criticized Patrick for "poetry."

It's the poetry that makes the Teflon tough to pierce, as Healey is finding out the hard way.

Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.