"We take every opponent seriously," Barrios said.
A few blocks away at K.C. Peppercorn Grill, Benzan's party was more subdued, with supporters-many of them family and childhood friends-nevertheless cheering his strong finish.
"I'm still proud of him," said Sheila M. Colom, 31, a friend of Benzan's from his youth in central Cambridge.
Across town, Wolf celebrated with her supporters, a principally older, female crowd, at Fraser's on Mass. Ave.
"We've worked very, very hard," she said. "It's the first time since I was seven years old that I haven't been swimming once the whole summer."
Wolf's work appeared to have paid off, as she attracted 54.7 percent of the electorate, 900 more votes than Galluccio. By comparison, in their 1996 match-up her margin of victory was 89 votes.
She said her immediate priority is a special legislative session to override several vetoes by Acting Governor A. Paul Cellucci. She hopes to pursue education and affordable housing issues, two longtime interests she advocated as a member of the Cambridge School Committee and as a former city councillor and mayor.
"I feel really wonderful," said Wolf volunteer Victoria I. Tamas, 35, a policy analyst at the Cambridge Housing Authority. "I was very excited to be part of a narrow victory last time, and it's even better to be part of a large one."
Tamas held her son David, 2, an "early campaign volunteer."
Volunteer Janet Green, 53, said "what first attracted me was her ideas about education."
The 27th Middlesex District, which first elected Wolf in 1996, includes southern and western Cambridge. It contains the Yard dormitories and the Quad.
Although both Galluccio and Wolf emphasized similar issues, the race was a feisty one, with Galluccio's side accusing Wolf of being a "limousine liberal" who had no real interest in the city's poorer neighborhoods. Wolf's supporters, like William C. Madsen, countered that Galluccio ran a divisive race that pitted north and mid-Cambridge against each other.
"As a resident of north Cambridge, I was personally offended by that," said Madsen, a family therapist, who spent yesterday afternoon on a rainy street corner bearing a Wolf placard.
Madsen said he was pleased that Wolf won despite a low-key campaign style.
"Alice, while she's a great politician, is not a good campaigner...[She] is very steady but is not flashy."
Wolf faces no opposition in the November election.