From "The Record," Brooke Campaign Literature

If you asked anybody in Massachusetts two years ago what the most significant thing about Sen. Edward W. Brooke was, they'd probably mention that he is the only black in the Senate. Ask anybody that question today and they'll start in on "that thing with his wife and kids" or "something about his finances." Ed Brooke's record, the very one his campaign workers are anxious to point to, has come back to haunt him.

Ed Brooke is running against Ed Brooke for reelection. This is about the only thing that can be stated confidently about this year's race for Senate in Massachusetts. Sure, Paul Tsongas is running a good campaign based on a fairly strong liberal record. Sure, he is a good-looking, energetic fresh face. But "If it weren't for the private life thing--and by that I mean the money, not the family stuff--I think Brooke would be a sure bet," William Schneider, associate professor of Government, explains. Forty-nine per cent of the people questioned recently in a Massachusetts poll feel that Brooke "has not been honest and above-board in his personal affairs." A mere two per cent say the same for Tsongas. Says fellow Rep. Michael J. Harrington '58, "Tsongas is accessible, humble, sincere, unassuming, but there is an inner strngth there...To the extent that integrity in government is the underlying political issue, Paul Tsongas is the answer." Mr. Clean runs for Senate.

It's useless, almost futile to try to detail the charges levied against Brooke. "It has been one crisis after another," he says. "I don't blame anybody for it perhaps other than myself or, I can't blame my family, I don't want to put the blame on them, but what I'm saying is, that I wouldn't have been able to survive this if I didn't believe myself, within myself, and known within myself that I had done nothing wrong. And I think ultimately that's all going to come out." It is an unproven, almost hesitant defense. The jury is still out on Brooke's conduct but the effects have already been felt. Talk-show host Avi Nelson came within four percentage points of unseating Brooke in the race for Republican nomination this fall. And Tsongas, most polls indicate, is running between three and seven points ahead of the incumbent.

What Brooke's campaign is trying to do, meanwhile, is to separate its candidate's public and private lives. Ed Brooke is running on his record, "a record of 12 years of distinguished representation in the Senate." But when Brooke strays from discussing concrete issues--as is his wont--he tries almost to disassociate his name and all that it now implies from the race. He speaks of an ongoing struggle, of the multitudes of Ed Brookes that will arise in the future and of a greater mission. He has tried to match his issue stands with his own identity but simultaneously separate his candidacy from his name. To the extent that Brooke's people succeed, they may be able to salvage what looks to be a slowly sinking ship. If nothing else, this election is a lesson, an education, in private vs. public affairs. Just what part of a public official's private life do you feel ought not to be considered? Brooke is asked. "I don't know how far it goes; what room it stops at," he says. "It certainly doesn't stop in the living room."

***

Ed Brooke is in good company. There are 1500 people in the Sheraton-Boston ballroom for the annual awards dinner of the Boston chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Someone has screwed up in the scheduling. Brooke can only stay to deliver a five minute address.

"I have always been proud of the NAACP. I never rose above vice-president, I never became President of the Boston chapter of this great organization, but I've always been proud of my life membership in it and proud of what it has meant to black people and to white people who believe in the cause of equal justice in this country. I love the Urban League and I love all other organizations, but let us never forget that the real organization that has stood for equal justice for our people is the NAACP."

"The theme of your meeting is 'til victory is won.' I know it has nothing to do with me, it has to do with something much more important that Ed Brooke or any individual. I subscribe to that theme. I've dedicated most of my life to that and all of you here have done the same. And I'm so honored when I look and see," Brooke eyes the cover for the evening's program, "William E. DuBois, I guess that's Frederick Douglass--my eyes are getting older now--I guess that other picture is me but I don't know if I deserve to be there." He glances at the fourth sketch on the cover.

"But I know that little girl deserves to be there. I hope you've looked at that little girl. That's what we're fighting for--the future of that little girl and that little boy for generations and generations to come. Our victory will be won and God give us strength to make it soon." There is a photo of a small black child gazing off into the future on the cover of Brooke's latest literature. There is a fuzzy "Brooke, U.S. Senate" sign in the background.

Ed Brooke doesn't talk much about being black. "The very hardest kind of opponent for a black candidate," Thomas Pettigrew, professor of Social Psychology and Sociology, observes, "is a liberal white who is careful not to bring any racism into the campaign." Pettigrew, a one-time Brooke advisor, says the Senator runs relatively non-racial campaigns--he's not comfortable with the role of "the black Senator" that has been thrust upon him. Only when he fell sharply in the polls in his race against Peabody in 1966 did he give a talk about "being black--it wasn't blatant but the liberals loved it," says Pettigrew, "they gave him a standing ovation and almost carried him off on their shoulders."

But if Brooke doesn't talk about himself being black, his campaign staff isn't about to let any potential vote-getting appeal go to waste. So in they've come to Massachusetts this fall, to endorse Ed Brooke, campaign for Ed Brooke and identify Ed Brooke as the leading black politician in the country. Coretta King and Rev. Jesse Jackson have been here, State Rep. Barney Frank' endorsed Brooke, and State Rep. Saundra Graham has sacrificed her own campaign to stump for Brooke. Tsongas has countered, bringing black and women leaders into the state on his own behalf. It's not that the black vote in Massachusetts has historically been anything to write home about--just that some feel it could be. It's the one factor that can balance the private life issue, says Pettigrew, and draw white liberals into the Brooke camp.

***

In their second televised debate, Paul Tsongas complained about the Brooke campaign literature that claimed he had not been present for the vote to extend the ratification deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment. Tsongas insisted he was there, for two of the final four ballots. "This kind of literature and those kind of statements have no place in politics," Tsongas said, "I'm disappointed when this kind of thing comes out, especially when my literature is all positive." Says Brooke, "I'm not going to attack Paul Tsongas, and I never have and I never will." This is the extent of personal controversy in the campaign. While Edward J. King and Francis W. Hatch '46 have been slinging just about as much mud as they can scoop up, such attacks have been left out of the Senate race.

Both camps insist that they are running "issue campaigns," "We are running on the Senator's 12-year record," says a close advisor to Brooke. "We are running on what he is and what he has done." The Tsongas camp, most noticeably its candidate, has never strayed from talking about the issues. Tsongas quotes details, at embarrassing length, always returning to hammer home his issue stands. If it weren't for the private life issue, this election might well have been written off as boring in Massachusetts. Voters, the polls show, see no substantive differences in issue stands between the two candidates.