"I support it as a legal concept," he said. "Students should have the choice to register wherever they want."

Massachusetts, however, will be aligned with more progressive legislation anyway in the general elections. "I would hope that students from other states in the South, Mid-west and West would vote in their home towns where only a handful of votes can make the difference," he added.

Expressing his opposition to abortion on demand, Kennedy said. "I still have my reservations about abortion; and although I am sympathetic with unwanted pregnancy I am very concerned with the sanctity of life and existence."

Kennedy did say he favored "making available all information and assistance to all women seeking help in birth control" whether or not they are married.

When asked about his recent trip to study the health care plan in England, Kennedy responded that he believed this program could be successful in the United States.

He also criticized the American Medical Association for its resistance to change in contrast to the "willingness of the British Medical Society to accept reform."

"Although there are problems with the British system, they are dealing with the right model car and we are dealing with a horse and buggy," he said.

Kennedy said President Nixon has the "obligation to reflect the mood of the country" by appointing two liberal supreme court justices--men of the same "vision" as Justices Black and Harlan--and added he would be pleased to see a "qualified" woman justice on the bench.

Senator Kennedy's well-written and powerful speech and manner made him an attractive liberal candidate in comparison with the much more subdued and wishywashy manner of a Muskie or a Humphrey.

But the Kennedy name evokes too many unpleasant memories to make him a very powerful presidential candidate. And Kennedy himself seems politically tired and uncertain, preferring to take the safer stands on legislative issues rather than to undertake the personal political commitment which he demands of students.

And despite his insistence that the student vote can produce drastic changes in the system, Kennedy failed to convince the students at Rindge Technical Auditorium that the 1972 election would be anything but another "Tweedledee-Tweedledum" race between a Nixon and a Muskie.