Debate to test Healey, Patrick

Republican gubernatorial nominee Kerry Healey heads into the first debate of the general election tonight with a clear strategy: to portray Democratic gubernatorial nominee Deval L. Patrick as too liberal. Patrick's job tonight is equally explicit: to force Healey to defend her administration's record.

But both candidates also face perils, political strategists said yesterday.

Healey, who was trailing far behind Patrick in a CBS4 poll released last week, has no choice but to draw sharp contrasts, but she must avoid appearing too negative, strategists said.

The lieutenant governor also has the difficult task of asserting she has the experience to be governor, yet distancing herself from the Romney-Healey administration's missteps, and disavowing Governor Mitt Romney's recent shift to the right, strategists said.

The mission of the two major-party candidates will be complicated by the participation of two other candidates for governor -- independent Christy Mihos, a former Republican and a wealthy convenience store magnate, and Grace Ross, the Green-Rainbow Party choice.

Patrick's challenge is to find a way to defend his positions on issues such as taxes and whether children of illegal immigrants should pay in-state tuition at public universities without alienating mainstream voters. A Globe poll last month suggested that even Democratic primary voters differ with Patrick on those matters. He also must prove that he can withstand aggressive questioning under pressure. When his primary rivals went after him in their last debate, Patrick seemed weak and flat, said James M. Glaser, a political science professor at Tufts University.

``Deval Patrick, I think, has got to be tougher, and I think he's got to improve on his performance before," he said.

Healey, Glaser said, ``has got to hit the conservative themes that will work for her while separating herself from the direction of the administration, and that's a tough thing."

Glaser said that although Mihos has spent much of his time attacking the Romney-Healey administration so far, Healey has ``a lot more ground to make up than what Christy Mihos represents."

Glaser did not think Ross, who is virtually penniless, would have much of an effect on the debate.

Healey and Patrick each spent part of yesterday preparing for their first showdown, which will be broadcast from 6 to 7:10 p.m. on FOX25 . Though it is the first of four, or possibly five, debates over the next six weeks, tonight's forum could be a critical moment in the campaign, strategists said, because it will be the voters' first chance to see the candidates side by side.

``You always get one chance to make your first impression, and I think that starts" tonight, said Mary Anne Marsh , a Democratic strategist.

Both camps tried to downplay the CBS4 poll, which gave Patrick a 39-point lead . The survey was taken on the night of the primary and the night after, when the general election race had barely begun. A Patrick adviser said the Democrat expects the next poll to be much closer; a Healey adviser said the lieutenant governor expects to trail for weeks.

Healey strategists were clearly pleased with the dynamic in the first week of the general election campaign . The lieutenant governor, they said, had controlled the discussion, each day pointing out clear differences between herself and Patrick on immigration, taxes, and criminal records policy. Rob Gray , a Healey strategist, said she understood how to win tonight.

``We just need to keep beating that drum, and voters will naturally come our way," he said.

Democratic strategist Michael Shea , who is not advising Patrick but who coached US Senator John F. Kerry for his debates against President Bush, said Patrick's job is to answer questions on divisive issues with the strongest and most succinct response possible, and then ``pivot out of there."

``There's three hills she wants to fight on, and he wants to move the battle to another terrain," he said. ``That's what he's got to do."

The Patrick camp said it was also looking forward to tonight's matchup. Patrick adviser Doug Rubin said Patrick built a strong relationship with voters during the primary that has helped them trust him on issues such as taxes. (Healey supports rolling back the income tax rate from 5.3 percent to 5 percent; Patrick does not.)

Rubin said Patrick is prepared to confront the Romney-Healey administration's record head-on tonight.

The Healey camp expects that Patrick will benefit from the practice he has had in high-pressure, prime-time debates in the weeks leading up to last week's primary. But Dwight Robson , a Democratic strategist who has also been involved in the last three gubernatorial races, said Healey would profit from those Democratic primary fights, too.

``Unlike Deval, she has tape on her opponent," he said. ``She has now spent weeks, if not months, becoming familiar with his lines, his messages, identifying points of vulnerability, whereas it wasn't too many days ago that Deval Patrick was trying to fight his way through the Democratic primary. I know from experience that it can be hard for a candidate to make that quick transition."

Lisa Wangsness can be reached at lwangsness@globe.com.