Politics in the city of Cambridge function according to laws of their own.

Everybody who is anybody here--politically--is a Democrat. The last Republican to serve on the City Council retired in 1969.

But Cambridge is by no means a one-party town. For more than 40 years, the City Council has been split down the middle between candidates backed by the liberal Cambridge Civic Association (CCA) and those running as Independents.

And this year, a new progressive slate, the Working Committee for a Cambridge Rainbow, has added itself to the fray.

The Rainbow shares almost all of the CCA's goals for the next election, including strict controls on development and strong support for rent control, and every Rainbow-endorsed candidate has CCA backing as well.

Despite the two groups' seeming similarity, however, Rainbow organizers say that their long-term goals are slightly different. The CCA's stated purpose is to promote honest and efficient city government--although for many years, affordable housing and rent control have provided its core issues.

In contrast, says spokesperson Howard P. Ramseur, the Rainbow's goal is a little more basic: to bring new people into the political process.

"When you walk through Central Square," explains Ramseur, "you see people of all types and colors and economic classes. Then you go to the Rent Control Board, and last time I was there, it was all white."

"We want to get people involved in the political process who haven't been involved before," he says.

While the CCA and other political groups have been active in trying to reach new segments of the population, the Rainbow's organizers say that the efforts have not penetrated far enough. What is needed, they say, is a grass-roots movement which will reach the housing projects. The Rainbow Committee, they say, is an attempt to fill the gap.

"Certain people in the CCA have noticed that that other part has been missing, and they've been reaching out," says spokesperson Janet Murray. "A group that's more specifically grass roots-oriented will do a better job of reaching that goal."

"We'll really be trying to reach the disenfranchised, people who've been left out of the traditional political organizations," says Murray.

Council hopeful Rena Leib says that she believes the Rainbow's grass-roots approach may be better able to push for affordable housing and other benefits for the city's disenfranchised, issues which have in the past caused dissension among the CCA ranks.

Despite some of the differences in strategy and policy, Murray and Ramseur say they are not seeking confrontation with the CCA. Instead, they say they see it and the Rainbow playing complementary roles.

Indeed, it would be impossible for the two groups to compete in the upcoming election--all six of the Rainbow's council candidates are also on the CCA's nine-member slate.