Most Painful Political Debate Ever

Political debates can be painful. If you're Massachusetts State Treasurer Steve Grossman, a Democratic candidate for governor, they can be really painful…like kidney stone painful.

The former DNC chair and first-term state treasurer awoke in agony at 3:45 am on Tuesday morning to discover that he was passing a kidney stone, which is a chronic condition for the gubernatorial hopeful. Nevertheless, Grossman carried on with his day, and on Tuesday evening, made his way to the Boston Public Library to debate seven other gubernatorial candidates on issues concerning the LGBTQ community.

Grossman, faces a crowded field for the Democratic nomination to succeed term-limited incumbent Deval Patrick, including Attorney General Martha Coakley, former Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem and Don Berwick, the former adminstrator for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid. Candidates won't know if they make the ballot for the September primary until June, when party delegates will narrow the field at the State Democratic Convention.

A spokesman for Grossman, Chandra Allard, told the Boston Globethat Grossman's kidney-stone-induced pain was so severe during the debate, they classified it a level 10 on a scale of 1-10.