Other councillors and hopefuls elaborated on the mayor’s point.

“We have to put a cap on the number of students they allow in,” said Councillor Timothy Toomey.

And—in typical Harvard-student style— Murphy, an alum, specifically skirted stating his alma mater.

“I came here to go to college and fell in love with Cambridge,” Murphy said.

Kenneth E. Reeves ’72 and David P. Maher—the two councillors seen as most precariously positioned to reclaim their seats, because they finished last among the councillors in 1999’s election—took extremely different tacks in their closing remarks.

Maher emphasized his time on the Ordinance Committee with the extremely popular Kathleen L. Born, who is not seeking re-election. As co-chairs of the committee, Maher and Born finessed historic zoning legislation and built a coalition to pass it through the council.

“The re-zoning is going to come to somewhat of a pinnacle when we we approve the re-zoning of East Cambridge,” Maher said.

On the other end, 12-year council veteran Reeves talked about voter participation. Pundits have said Reeves, who previously had a strong base of black voters, could lose ground to Simmons. There are also other incumbents from his neighborhood.

“I wonder why so few people are voting,” Reeves said in his closing remarks. “We seem to have become very self-satisfied in Cambridge.”

Raising his voice, Reeves said he thinks Cambridge still has problems.

“We have a school system that’s failing kids wholesale and retail,” Reeves said. “If you don’t think everything’s all right, I would appreciate your number one vote.”

—Staff writer Lauren R. Dorgan can be reached at dorgan@fas.harvard.edu.