"He's a corrupted bastard," says a blond manwith tortoise glasses and a French accent.
"Bulger's been around so long, he's got all hiscronies around him. I don't think he can relate tothe people," says Michael Abbott, 29, of the SouthEnd.
And Michael Walsh, 28, also of the South End,simply makes the thumbs down sign when he hearsBulger's name. Then he intones: "Too corrupt. Toomean. Too much. Too much. Too much. Time for achange."
DeJong acknowleges that he is facing a toughuphill battle. "He has the most powerful politicalmachine in the state," DeJong says. And laborunions, for the most part, are giving theirsupport to Bulger. And, of course, there are thepeople of South Boston.
A DeJong victory, if it comes, will be tough.At Bulgers spacious campaign headquarters on EastEighth Street, South Boston, volunteers, many ofthem union members, make canvass phone calls longinto the night. And even on Newbury St., manypeople's faces take on a blank look when the nameDeJong--or Bulger, for that matter--is mentionedto them. One man asked about Bulger replied,"didn't he play the scarecrow in `The Wizard ofOz?'"
DeJong, however, believes that many of thepeople who are outwardly supporting Bulger, whohave Bulger bumper stickers and Bulger signs, willcome out and vote for him. "They're decenthardworking people. They deserve a better statesenator than Billy Bulger," DeJong says.