The Real Paper today ranked Mary Ellen Preusser, a member of the Cambridge Convention '77 Slate, as its top choice among the 24 City Council candidates.

In the 1975 election, the Real Paper ranked Preusser third and she finished 11th behind the nine successful candidates. "I don't think that [her showing] weighed very heavily in our decision this year," Martin A. Linsky, editor of the Real Paper, said yesterday. "I think we were looking for the strongest candidate, and she seems the best way to ensure liberal strength on the council," he added.

"I would be a jackass if I told you I didn't want to be number one--I've worked too damned hard not to," Preusser said yesterday. "I can't imagine why the Real Paper would put me on top. I'm not the stereotypic person they would put on top. I'm 52 years old and not terribly attractive, but I'm bright, I'm a fighter, and I'm effective," she added.

Preusser said she thought the Real Paper endorsement garnered 600 to 800 votes for the first-ranked candidate in the 1975 election, although she said it may not be worth that many votes now.

David Clem, an independent incumbent councillor who received the Real Paper's top ranking two years ago, said yesterday that "The Real Paper endorsement is helpful" and that the ranking gave him a "comfortable margin" of victory in the last election, but added that he did not think the lack of the top endorsement this year would affect his re-election chances. The Real Paper endorsement, he said, has a direct impact on only 200 to 250 votes.

The Real Paper ranked all the candidates, and most of the other seven members of the Cambridge Convention slate also received high rankings.