"My experience is that candidates who are successful are those who target their vote. In addition, the slates do help," says Vice Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72.

"Everyone goes into the race trying to ID as many #1 votes as they can," says incumbent Councilor Jonathan S. Myers, who has been running "an intense door to door campaign" in order to identify votes "one by one."

Reeves says his "highly scientific, targeted campaign" has been centered around his strongest supporters--tenants, the elderly, and Harvard students--and making sure they will show up to vote for him on election day.

"The whole game is to locate people who want to vote for you. It's not the simplest thing to confirm their support. Many people remain undecided until election day," Reeves says.

Getting #1 votes is also crucial to staying alive in the race since candidates with the lowest number of #1 votes are eliminated even before redistribution--which can put weaker candidates with a broad base of second-choice support over the top--begins.

"I have to get enough #1 votes to keep me alive," says first-time candidate George A. Spartichino. Pats on the back and promises from voters that he'll get a lower vote from them are far from reassuring, he says.

"If I get a #1. That's what I'm looking for," says Spartichino. Spartichino says he is hoping to stay alive long enough to pick up votes from the other Italian-American candidate, former mayor Alfred Vellucci.

For many, cooperating with other similarly minded candidates has been an effective tactic to pick up transfer votes.

The slate system has worked well for candidates endorsed by the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA)--the city's progressive coalition--and the Cambridge Tenants' Election council.

"Other than spending lots of money and putting literature [in every mailbox across the city] nothing works better than a slate," says Glenn S. Koocher '71, a longtime observer of Cambridge politics.

Slate voting was responsible for the current 6-3 pro-rent control majority on the city council, says Michael H. Turk, co-chair of the Cambridge Tenant's Election Committee.

For many years, the CCA and Cambridge Tenants Election Committee have successfully endorsed a slate of candidates and organized a coordinated campaign.

"We try to keep all the campaigns [of CCA endorsed candidates] working together and make sure they don't undermine each other," says CCA campaign manager Debbie Zeidenberg.

While each individual campaign is autonomous, endorsed candidates' fliers will usually encourage voters to place votes somewhere on their ballots for the other CCA candidates as well.

Because many candidates do not win enough #1 votes to be elected outright, garnering transfer votes becomes crucial to many campaign strategies.