It was a long night in the 12th Congressional District.

At the Dreamwold in Scituate Harbor, several hundred supporters of Democrat Gerry E. Studds milled around a multi-room election headquarters. At midnight, only scattered returns were in, and although staff members prowled the room citing key precincts which showed a Studds victory, no one really had any idea who was going to win.

The Dreamwold is an appropriate place for a Studds party. For many of his supporters Studds' three-year-long quest for the Congressional seat now held by Hasting Keith, a quest which has spanned two elections, has been a kind of dream. Studds' basic constituency has all along been the young, the committed, and the idealistic, and they were in evidence in Scituate last night.

The late night crowd was young. Some drank but most just talked quietly with old friends. No band blared music, and there was none of the forced gaity that so often characterizes election headquarters. The Studds people have been through this before, two years ago, and they know how to pace themselves through a long night. It was a sober crowd.

The headquarters of Studds' opponent, William W. Weeks '49 was, by contrast, raucous. Bands blared out old campaign favorites like "Happy Days Are Here Again" and "Feelin' Groovy."

The crowd 'at Weeks' headquarters at the White Cliff resort in Plymouth was indicative of the kind of campaign Weeks has run. The crowd was gentile, mannered, and polite. To call it an upper-income group would be a ridiculous understatement.

When Weeks himself arrived at 10:50 p.m., the band broke into "When the Saints Come Marching In." Weeks told the crowd that it was toe early-to predict any election results, spent the rest of his speech thanking the crowd for their support and then introduced his wile and four children. He then retired to a downstairs seen with a scotch and water, and the crowd went back to dancing and laughing.

The crowd was confident, as the people were obviously buoyed by the nationwide Republican success.