On Monday the contenders for governor of Massachusetts "debated" in Boston, and the immigration-related parts of the transcript start here and go on for four more screens. It features the two leading candidates (Republican Kerry Healey and Democrat Deval Patrick) and two with little chance of winning ("Green-Rainbow" Grace Ross and independent Christy Mihos).

If that's indicative of the rest of the debate, it was only of use to promote their positions and not to engage their opponents on the issues. All of their positions could probably be gleaned from their websites or previous statements. The only slight challenge came from Mihos, who's apparently disgruntled. He called Healey on the number of companies prosecuted for employing illegal aliens; she responded by blaming it on Mass AG Thomas F. Reilly. Healey wants to exclude him from future debates.

On the issues of driver's licenses and discounted college educations for illegal aliens, Healey opposes, Patrick supports. He says:

I understand that immigration is a serious problem, it requires a serious response. It requires some candor.

Needless to say, he doesn't follow through, offering the standard Democratic line of "yes, but" and failing to realize all of the pull factors that encourage illegal immigration:

[page 8:] People are not coming here for in-state tuition, they're coming here for jobs... [page 9:] Lets be clear, people are not coming to Massachusetts to get a drivers license, they're coming to get jobs...

Let's be clear: if I were allowed to "cross-examine" Patrick I have little doubt that I could turn his support for illegal immigration into a massive defeat. Hopefully in future debates there will actually be a debate and the questions won't be so general and lightweight.