It didn't have much impact. People were just very confused since it came so close to the election. The hearing on the case will be in October a very bad time," Barton said.

Ninth Congressional District

Although losing her home precinct, Rep. Louise Day Hicks (D-Boston) has obviously not lost her appeal as she won a smashing victory over five opponents in the Ninth Congressional District's Democratic primary last Tuesday.

In November she will face Republican candidate Howard Miller and Boston City Councilman John J. Moakley, who bypassed the Democratic primary to run as an independent in the general election. Because the new district--which extends from Dover St. in Roxbury to Dover, an upper middle class suburb--is heavily Democratic. Miller should not be much of a threat. Moakley, who won last year's City Council race with 94,000 votes, is expected to be a dangerous challenger.

In the 1970 primary Hicks defeated Moakley by 5000 votes although Moakley claims he would have won if David Nelson, a black candidate, had not divided the anti-Hicks vote.

This year, Hicks won the primary by a three to two margin over second place finisher Senator Robert Cawley (D-W. Roxbury) who masterminded the redistricting in the State House. Although Cawley drew the Congressional district boundaries to include most of his present district, he could only manage 26 per cent of the vote to Hicks's 39 per cent. The third place finisher. James W. Hennigan, the Boston School Committee chairman, did poorly, getting 21 per cent of the vote.

Although predicting Hicks would win, political analysts were surprised by her overwhelming victory, since her two strongholds. Dorchester and South Boston, were cut out of the district in the reapportionment.

Two black candidates fared poorly in the race. Newton resident Hubert H. Jones, the most liberal of the candidates, placed fourth with 8068 votes, largely outdistancing Melvin Miller, publisher of the Bay State Banner, who received 1592 votes.

Second Middlesex District-Senate

The old politics continued to prevail in the Second Middlesex District, as State Senator Francis X. McCann (D-Cambridge) swept to victory against four opponents in Tuesday's Democratic primary.

The district, which includes Harvard Square and much of Cambridge, also takes in Belmont. Waltham and parts of Allston and Brighton. McCann's main opponent Cambridge School Committeeman David Wylie, ran 2237 votes behind the incumbent, in unofficial returns. Two years earlier Wylie lost to McCann by 1800 votes. McCann seems certain of re-election as he faces only token Republican opposition in November.

John Hogan '73, mounted an aggressive campaign, yet failed to produce a sizable vote anywhere except in his home area Allston-Brighton. Hogan carried Ward 22 in that area by about 1000 votes over McCann and Wylie, but trailed far behind in the other parts of the district. In Cambridge, Hogan only got 553 votes to 5221 for McCann and 3701 for Wylie.

As it has in the past, McCann's base of support in North Cambridge turned out for him. In the 11th Ward, for example, McCann got 1536 votes to only 313 for Wylie. Hogan, who has many relatives who grew up in North Cambridge, only could manage 128 votes in the 11th Ward.

From the way his concession speech sounded Tuesday night, it doesn't seem likely that Wylie will ever choose to do battle with McCann again. Wylie will have to face Hogan's brother today at 9:30 a.m. in Brighton District Court. A hearing will be held at that time on Joseph Hogan's complaint that Wylie assaulted him two Saturday's ago while he was campaigning at a Brighton Shopping center.

First Middlesex District-Representative