Quotes, ideas of 3 hopefuls

Deborah Goldberg

Age: 52.

Home: Brookline.

Background: A member of the family that founded the Stop & Shop Supermarket chain, she worked at the grocery stores and in corporate management. Served as Brookline selectwoman for six years, including two as chairwoman.

Ideas: Proposes regional task forces to link community colleges with prospective employers and to coordinate training for job recruitment.

Quote: ``We're growing at half the rate of the rest of the country. . . . We're now ranked 47th in investing in higher education. The key to jobs is our skilled workforce. It has always been our skilled workforce, and over the course of the last 16 years, we have stopped investing in the schools."

Timothy Murray

Age: 37.

Home: Worcester.

Background: An attorney elected to Worcester City Council in 1997. Now serving a third two-year term as mayor.

Ideas: Proposes to create a new state Office of Rail Commissioner to oversee all passenger and freight travel and to improve commuter rail options.

Quote: ``[Commuter rail] has played a major role in causing people to look at Worcester as an option in the real estate market. . . . People who are buying are people who are being priced out of the Boston-Route 128 area. . . . Commuter rail is a cross-cutting issue. It is an economic development issue. It's a housing issue. It's an environmental issue."

Andrea Silbert

Age: 42.

Home: Harwich.

Background: Cofounder of the Center for Women and Enterprise, which helps both low-income and upstart entrepreneurs launch or expand businesses.

Ideas: Expanding rail options to bring commuters to towns where housing is more modestly priced.

Quote: ``There's plenty of cities and towns in our state that have affordable housing. It's just that there are no jobs there. I think rail is the first step. You have to get rail going to New Bedford, and, for the time being, families can buy an affordable home in New Bedford and commute to their jobs in Boston. But over time, what rail does is renew and revitalize our cities."