Fourth Congressional District

It will be a Tweedledee and Tweedledum race in the Fourth Congressional District as two liberals--State Rep. Martin A Linsky (R-Brookline) and Rep. Robert Driman (D-Newton)--meet at the polls in November.

Linsky won last Tuesday's four way primary in a tight race with conservative new comer Avi Nelson who ran on a platform supporting President Nixon. His campaign slogan was "I'm not afraid to be right."

Although Drinan was unopposed in the primary, he had workers at every poll on Tuesday and held a mass rally on primary night in an obvious effort to gear up his campaign for the tough November night. Drinan managed to keep himself in the public spotlight all summer as he served as the vocal leader of the Massachusetts delegation to the Democratic National Convention.

The new Fourth Congressional District, stretching from Brookline to Gardner, has 42,000 Republicans, 76,000 Democrats and a large swing vote of 82,000 independents. Twenty-three percent of the district is Jewish, with the heaviest concentrations in Brookline and Newton, a Drinan stronghold in the last Congressional race.

Linsky, who is Jewish, could sway many of the Drinan supporters in these two towns where he did very well in Tuesday's primary. In a poll taken by the Linsky staff last April. Drinan only held a ten point lead. In Brookline and Newton, the polls showed that both candidates had a third of the vote with the remainder undecided.

The Linsky forces plan to make a major effort to contact all the voters in the district before the November election. "We are relying on field organization in the campaign. The major crux of our effort will be a detailed blitz and canvass which we will aim at everyone, Democrats, Republicans, and independents," Steve Crosby, the campaign manager for Linsky, said Friday.

Originally Linsky tried to play down his party affiliation by taking a strong anti-war stance. But the primary showed a strong conservative vote in the district, and Linsky may now drift toward the right. With Drinan so closely tied in to the McGovern campaign, a strong Nixon showing in November could bring victory to Linsky.

Fifth Congressional District

In one of the most expensive primaries ever, John Kerry, a former spokesman for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War won the Democratic nomination in the Fifth Congressional district. Ten Democrats, four Republicans and one independent spent more than half a million dollars before Tuesday's primary. Kerry topped all contenders, spending a limit over $1,35,000.

The 28-year old Yale graduate will face Republican Paul Cronin of Andover in the November election. Cronin is a former aide to Congressman F. Bradford Morse and has great strength in the Andover area where he was elected its youngest selectman.

The race should be close. Although the Democrats enjoy a 56,000 advantage in registration over the Republicans, the independent vote--which totals 77,000--could be decisive if there is a strong Nixon surge in November.

Nancy Barton, Kerry's campaign treasurer, said Saturday the emphasis in the upcoming campaign will be different from that in the primary. "Last time the purpose of the campaign was to identify our supporters and get them to the polls; in November, most voters will go anyway and we have to influence the way they vote. Also the thrust of our campaign will depend on whether Cronin runs as a liberal and on how much money he gets from the Nixon administration which I'm sure doesn't want to see Kerry elected."

Kerry's chances for victory were threatened on election eve when his brother and a campaign aide were arrested in an incident reminiscent of the Watergate affair. The police charged the two with tampering with the phones in the cellar of a building which housed Kerry's campaign headquarters as well as that of one of his opponents. Kerry later told reporters that they had entered the cellar to protect his own phone lines which he claimed had been threatened earlier in the evening by an anonymous caller.

Although the incident received much press coverage the voting did not seem to be affected by it. It is possible though that the incident may become a factor in the November election.