Cambridge's voting for the Republicancandidates also closely followed the tallies inthe state, with Bush at 62 percent and Buchanan at30 percent.
Compared to the rest of the Commonwealth,Cambridge's votes flocked to the polls yesterday,with 40 percent of its registered voters casting aballot. Only 33 percent of the state's votersoverall showed up at the polls.
In all, 16,875 Democrats and 1517 Republicansturned out to vote in Cambridge.
Although Brown's strong showing in the statewas surprising to many election pundits, CambridgeElection Commission officials expected itsaggressively democratic Cantabrigians to opt forBrown at the polls.
"Cambridge tends to be an aggressivelydemocratic vote, so there's no surprise at Tsongascoming in first and there's certainly no surpriseat Brown coming in second," said Sandy Scheir, aCambridge election commissioner.
Scheir, one of the two Democratic commissionersoverseeing the tallying at the Office ofInformational Technology, added that Tsongas had agood showing in the city and the state because ofthe "feeling of hurt" from the recession.
Republican Election Commissioner Artis B.Spears also was unsurprised by the performances ofany of her party's candidates, though she said sheactually expected Bush to pull a stronger leadover Buchanan.
Spears said that because of Cambridge'sdiversity, the outcome of any election is notpredictable.
"I cross all party lines when I vote," said46-year resident Mary A. Samp, a retired HarvardBusiness School employee whose husband is anelection commissioner. "I think what I do is whata lot of Cambridge people do-vote for people theyhave confidence in."