But Vellucci makes a more convincing liberal. He has a solid record on pro-choice legislation as well as rights for women, gays and tenants, and these qualifications have won him the confidence of groups such as the Commonwealth Electoral Coalition of activist and labor leaders. Howe has changed her positions in recent years to seek the liberal vote and has not actively sought endorsements this time around, so it remains unclear exactly where she stands on issues such as abortion and comparable worth.

Vellucci is consistent enough to deserve another term. The race is so close, your vote could make all the difference.

Graham vs. Thompson

IT'S been a long time since Harvard Commencement 1970, when Saundra Graham stormed the podium with a bullhorn and demanded new homes for people the University had evicted to build Peabody Terrace.

Peabody Terrace is weathered and crumbling now, and Graham has taken on the more diplomatic manner of a 12-year state representative and 18-year Cambridge city councillor.

But in many ways she has not stopped shouting at the authorities--to house the homeless, teach those who depend on public education and deal honorably with all people, whether Black, gay, female, or poor. She has pushed through several public housing improvement measures and been a leading advocate of tenant protection laws.

Graham's perennial opponent, city employee Alvin Thompson, is right to question her accessibility to constituents and to ask whether she can serve effectively in both state and local government at once. While others on the city council also hold two jobs, Graham's constituents must decide whether they want the same person to represent them twice. On the other hand, Thompson, whose political opinions are not far removed from Graham's, has yet to prove his political ability at all.

This year's state redistricting gave Graham's 28th Middlesex County district a plausible shape, to replace something that looked on the map like a lizard with a broken neck. It no longer includes the Radcliffe Quad, but it does contain the river houses in Ward 6.

For those of you who can still vote in the 28th, support Saundra Graham for state representative.