Patrick: Baker's 'fingerprints all over' Big Dig finances

In another exchange, Baker said Patrick “started spending the rainy day fund before it started to rain.”

Patrick said his administration had "wisely stewarded" the budget.

The hour-long debate, during on WRKO-AM’s Tom & Todd show, was the first face-to-face showdown for the three candidates in advance of the November election. The station has posted an audio recording of the debate.

The format allowed the candidates to interrupt each other often, but also left time for substantive responses to the major issues confronting the Commonwealth.

Patrick argued that Massachusetts is emerging from the economic downturn "faster and stronger" than other states, but has work left to do. Baker countered that Patrick had squandered his opportunity and left Massachusetts an inhospitable place for businesses to locate and hire workers. Cahill, the state treasurer who was until last year a Democrat, said things were not as bad as Baker portrayed them, but not as good as Patrick claimed they were.

Stil,l Cahill, despite seeking middle ground at times, was eager to attack his opponents on health care, saying Patrick had not done enough to give small businesses a seat at the table or control costs. And he challenged Baker’s record leading Harvard Pilgrim, the health insurer, dismissing Baker’s contention that his calls for reform fell on deaf ears from government officials.

"If you’d have taken some leadership, you could have led the way. … That's leadership, Charlie, you've got to provide some leadership," Cahill said.

Baker tried to position himself as an outsider, despite his prior service as a top financial aide in the Weld and Cellucci administrations, because he has never run for statewide office and has been in private industry for a decade: "They've had four years to deal with this issue and we haven't made any progress at all."

Cahill shot back: "You've had 10 years."

Patrick also had to answer questions about internal e-mails revealed last week that showed an official at the state Division of Insurance warning that Patrick’s plan to cap insurer rates could lead to a "train wreck" for the industry.

"That e-mail is from somebody who has absolutely nothing to do with the development or the issues of this policy," Patrick said in his defense.

On immigration, both Cahill and Baker took a harder line than Patrick, supporting a measure passed in the state Senate that calls for additional screening of immigrants who seek state services. Patrick said the state already screens applicants for state services and that the measure could have unintended consequences such as excluding veterans and legal immigrants from benefits.