Martha Coakley, Charlie Baker

Massachusetts gubernatorial candidates Democrat Martha Coakley, left, and Republican Charlie Baker, right, are seated next to one another moments before a televised debate at WCVB television studios, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014, in Needham, Mass. Coakley and Baker square off in their final televised pre-election debate, one week before voters pick a successor to Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, Pool)

(Steven Senne)

NEEDHAM — The final televised debate between the two leading candidates for governor touched on new issues, still found a way to get mired down in the weeds of campaign oppo minutiae and featured a rare display of what appeared to be raw emotion.

Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Charlie Baker delivered their most unusual sparring round as gubernatorial candidates while seated at a roundtable where they were peppered with questions from WCVB's Janet Wu, WBUR's Bob Oakes and WHDH's Andy Hiller.

Sparse new ground was covered by the pair when they predictably sparred over the intricate details of Baker's alleged involvement with a New Jersey Pension Fund where some form of "pay-to-play" may have occurred. The same can be said for questions about former Inspector General Gregory Sullivan and Coakley's commitment to investigating disgraced former House Speaker Sal DiMasi.

Both appeared at times flippant, irritated and sometimes angry when addressing, once again, these intricate issues in short sound bites that surely sounded like insidery Beacon Hill gibberish to voters just tuning in. During the insider exchanges, Coakley, ever the prosecutor, tried to elicit a display of Baker's famous temper but mostly failed while she often retrenched into the guarded prosecutorial style we've become familiar with at these debates.

When the issue of taxes and fees was broached, Coakley and Baker were more direct at first and said that they would not raise taxes.

Coakley questioned Baker's ability to pay for things without raising taxes and suggested that an increase in state fees may make up the difference.

The pivotal moment in the debate, though, came during a question and answer session that focused on more lighthearted issues. Wu asked the two candidates who are sometimes seen as steely robots without personality, one a calculated businessman and the other a cold prosectuor, when they cried last.

Coakley offered a short response and said that it was earlier that day at the funeral of John Laughlin, a local labor organizer.

Baker, the supposed corporate Tin Man with no heart, teared up while relaying his story of a conversation about the two sons of a New Bedford fisherman.

The unnamed fisherman in the story told Baker that he could not let his two sons, star football players with athletics scholarships, go to college because he needed them to stay and work as fishermen.

"'I told them I was a fisherman, my brothers were fisherman, my father was a fisherman, you're going to be a fisherman, and I ruined their lives,'" he said the fisherman told Baker, before breaking down into tears during the debate.

Baker collected himself before saying that it was stories like the fisherman's that encouraged him and Coakley to work in public service.

"We want to help people like that," said Baker.

In the press scrum after the debate, Baker said that he's always been "a passionate guy" and that he always will be.

"I am a passionate guy about the people of the Commonwealth," said Baker.