'The Times Are Changing'

Meanwhile, supporters of Question 9 celebrated their narrow victory yesterday.

Landlords have charged that below-market rents prevent landowners from making improvements on property and decrease the property tax base that the state can rely upon.

But rent control supporters noted that the measure was defeated in Cambridge, Boston and Brookline, the three communities Question 9 actually affects.

"The fact that over 58 percent of Cambridge voters opposed Question 9 shows, I believe, that, within Cambridge, there is strong support for continuing the system in some form or other," Healy said yesterday.

Lester P. Lee Jr., campaign chair of the pro-rent control group Save Our Communities Coalition (SOCC), agreed.

"They did not [beat] us in the cities that were directly affected by this," Lee said.

But Question 9 supporters noted that the margin of voters was considerably narrower than that in previous rent control referendums.

"We got 42 percent yes votes in Cambridge to abolish rent-control, cold turkey. That's over 13,000 who voted yes," said Lenore M. Schloming '59, a board member of the Small Property Owners Association (SPOA).

"The yes vote in these communities certainly helped us win," Schloming added. "We hadn't even campaigned, we had just figured, 'Oh, we'll never succeed in these communities.' The times are changing."

By all accounts, fundraising was crucial to Question 9's passage.

According to campaign finance reports filed with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, the Massachusetts Homeowners Coalition (MHC), which led the Question 9 campaign, outspent SOCC by a ratio of at least 6 to 1.

The MHC spent $617,237 according to the reports, and concluded its campaign with $2276.86 in its account. The anti-rent control forces spent heavily on political advertising, TV and media publicity, consulting and legal strategy.

SOCC, however, is actually in debt. A report filed Monday showed the group has liability of $2216.21, even though it has spent only $90,816.46 throughout its six-month campaign.

"Back in July no one gave us a chance to even win this campaign and we were 40 points down," Lee said. "And we came within 2 points of winning this battle. If we had had more money, I know we would have won it."