Gov. Patrick truly believes Republicans don't care about people.

small reception for Lt. Gov. Tim Murray turned into a campaign rally Wednesday when Gov. Deval Patrick made an unscheduled visit to the city.

Patrick and Murray greeted about 35 people at the Col. Blackinton Inn, where they pressed their case for a second term in the November elections.

Murray started things off with a long list of administration accomplishments, including ethics, pension, transportation and education reform bills passing over the past year.

He said Patrick has been willing to do the tough work previous governors ignored, such as combining transportation agencies to make them more efficient, tackling the achievement gap in public schools, ending the abuse of pensions by public employees and addressing the billions of dollars in debt left by mismanagement of the Big Dig and MBTA.

The bond rating of state government has improved to AA despite the economic recession and the rating agencies have praised the administration's efficient management of the budget, he said.

Murray said Patrick could have bailed out on Massachusetts and taken a job with his friend President Barack Obama, but the governor stayed to work through the state's problems.

While Murray dealt with the nuts and bolts of government, Patrick sought to infuse some enthusiasm into Democrats demoralized by low poll numbers and the stunning upset win by Republican Scott Brown in the special election for U.S. Senate.

Raising his voice, Patrick said his opponents think budgets are "about numbers. A simple math problem."

Budgets are actually about people and the programs that help them, he said.

Lord love a duck...

UPDATE: More from the Herald and the AP.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Globe, Holly Robichaud, State House News Service and AP.

THIRD UPDATE: From the Jamaica Plain Gazette and the Boston Herald.