In a way, Cobb is right. The biggest issue for Roosevelt now isn't gambling--it's the candidate's inability to raise money.

In a heated primary against state Sen. Michael J. Barrett '70 (D-Cambridge) and former state Sen. George A. Bachrach (D-Watertown), Roosevelt exhausted his limited campaign coffers.

Toward the end of the primary season, Roosevelt insisted that his lack of funds was not a problem, saying state Democratic leaders would come to his assistance and help him raise money.

So far, that hasn't happened. A key party fundraiser, for example, will not come until October 22--less than three weeks before the election.

Susan M. Tracy, director of the coordinated campaign effort for the Massachusetts Democratic party, says her office can only do so much.

"We are definitely working closely with Mark's campaign," she says. "In terms of raising money, you do it at the grass-roots level."

The signs of trouble are multiplying. Shannon O'Brien, the Democratic candidate for state Treasurer, has had more media time than Roosevelt since the primary last month. Roosevelt's first television advertisements since the primary aired only Tuesday night.

"Clearly you have a number of constitutional offices coming up for election," Tracy says. "The reality is that Shannon O'Brien was the nominee from the beginning."

Some of the money Roosevelt has been expecting has gone instead to the campaign of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56, Robson says.

In his campaign against Republican entrepreneur W. Mitt Romney, Kennedy, a 32-year incumbent, is currently facing what many observers are calling the toughest race of his life.

Recent polls place the election in a dead heat, and Democratic fund-raisers across the state have been working overtime to protect Kennedy--at the expense of Roosevelt's campaign.

"The higher profile race casts a little bit of a shadow on the governor's race," Tracy says. "It's a difficult place for Mark to be in."

Former Cambridge Mayor Alice K. Wolf, a Democratic State Committee member, says Kennedy's struggle is symptomatic of national trends against traditional Democratic party liberalism.

"There seems to be a fairly strong anti-Clinton mood running in the country, which certainly doesn't help Roosevelt," Altshuler says.

Wolf also reiterated the importance of Kennedy's reelection to both the Massachusetts and the national agenda.