Koocher says Thompson won by a very slim margin in the 1980 vote, which had a voter turnout of only eight percent. "Alvin's defeat of Saundra was a totally unexpected victory, a major upset," Koocher says. "Alvin understands the principle to get along, go along and pay your dues. Alvin certainly paid his dues."

And Thompson has managed to hold on to his office, winning re-election every two years since 1980.

"Alvin's style is not to be threatening of intimidating but conciliatory," Koocher says. "White, blue-collar Cambridge voters have always been comfortable with Alvin, as opposed to your traditional blue-collar voters who weren't comfortable with Saundra Graham. Alvin's political roots are more traditional."

Critics: Not Aggressive'

But Thompson's critics say those traditional roots have prevented the representative from assuming a more activist role in defending Cantabrigians' interests.

"He's not aggressive, he's not an advocate on any major issue," says Lester P. Lee Jr., who managed Thompson's campaign in 1988 but has since been estranged from the representative.

Lee accuses Thompson of not identifying with issues central to the lives of his constituents.

"He's not really identified with any issues in the State House--rent control, welfare reform, prison reform--things that you would think, given his constituents, he would be interested [in]," he says.

Even Thompson's supporters say Thompson is not perceived as someone who rocks the political boat on Beacon Hill.

"Politically he's perceived as one of the soldiers of the leadership," Koocher acknowledges, adding that Thompson has been loyal to the city's most powerful representatives, including House Speaker Charles F. Flaherty (D-Cambridge), Sen. Thomas F. Birmingham '72 (D-Chelsea) and Senate President William M. Bulger (D-South Boston).

"Many people would like to see him more active, particularly in these times where the liberal agenda is under attack from conservatives in this society," adds Lee, a leading prorent control advocate in the period last fall before rent control's abolition. "Alvin hasn't been there to do that."

Critics have focused particularly on Thompson's handling of the issues of the end rent control and closing of a Stop and Shop.

Thompson and State Rep. Timothy J. Toomey Jr. (D-Cambridge) shepherded the city's home-rule petition to salvage some forms of rent control for low-income tenants following the passage of a state referendum last fall to abolish it.

"He and Tim Toomey were able to get the Cambridge home-rule petition adopted in the state legislature basically [because of] their own credibility, their own popularity," Koocher says.

But critics say Thompson should have pushed for more protections than those granted by the watered-down version of the bill that eventually passed.