Now, with Kennedy out of the governor's race, some say Weld's underrated understudy, Acting Governor Argeo Paul Cellucci, is becoming the new blue-collar urban candidate.

"I think it's sort of an interesting dynamic," said Richard S. Armstrong, a Cellucci advisor who ran against the acting governor in the 1992 lieutenant governor's race. "People are beginning to see Paul as a kind of working person's governor."

The numbers seem to agree with Armstrong's analysis.

In a poll commissioned by the Boston Herald immediately after Kennedy dropped out of the race, Bay State voters gave Cellucci a 44 percent favorable rating and Harshbarger a 39 percent rating.

Those numbers contrast markedly to a similar poll taken in April when Cellucci received a 27 percent favorable rating and Harshbarger a 42 percent favorable rating.

Cellucci, or Cell-ooch as many aides affectionately refer to the new governor, is not winning urban voters with Weld's charm. Instead, he is doing it with a sort of shared culture.

A former selectperson in the town of Hudson who plays bocce in his spare time, Cellucci has a gritty Main Street quality that appeals to many working class voters.

"Cellucci has an Italian heritage and he is very wise about how he plays it,"Alves said.

"It will play much better than someone who has never been to New Bedford and doesn't celebrate the culture,"he added.

But many say that while it may be helpful, culture will not win the election for Cellucci.

According to Dinatale, Cellucci's gains in the cities will likely be offset by his losses among Weld's suburban constituency. Harshbarger, Dinatale said, "plays in that world."

And still a year away from the primary, many insist that Harshbarger has ample time to make his case with urban voters.

According to Marty Xaifaris, a former member of the Democratic National Committee and a strong Harshbarger supporter, Cellucci's appeal to urban voters will begin to wane as soon as the issues become more focused.

"I think that there is an appeal [to Cellucci], but when push comes to shove, the issues will separate the Democrat from the Republican," she said.

Xaifaris points to a record of work on job growth, civil rights issues and health care issues that will carry Harshbarger through the election.

And in Cambridge-one of the two municipalities that did not vote for Weld (who lives a few blocks from Harvard Square) in his second run for Governor-there is a similar faith in the former Eliot House Democrat.

"On what issue does Scott Harshbarger not come across as an advocate for working class, blue collar voters?" asked City Councillor Francis F. Duehay'55.

But the gulf between Cambridge and New Bedford is wide, and Democrats like David Alves are not sure Harshbarger can bridge the gap