The city and its government are "deeply and chronically ill," she says. "I think that the general voting public is embarrassed by its councilpeople's behavior."

What the city needs, Noble says, is some fresh blood--an outsider without party allegiances or private sector obligations who is willing to dismantle the power structure.

And she's the one to do it, she says, declaring, "Maybe what you need is a woman who's 47 years old and has seen it all."

An Experienced Candidate

Noble may indeed have seen more than Cambridge's traditional council candidate, typically born and bred in the city. During her four years as a state representative from Boston's Back Bay, she helped author landmark gay and women's rights legislation and faced threats and hostility because of her sexual orientation.

In 1978, she lost a bid for the U.S. Senate to now-presidential hopeful Paul E. Tsongas. Since that time, she has worked in the State House and in Boston City Hall, and has worked for a plethora of community, gay rights, political and educational organizations.

Her political experience is evident in her manner and her self-assurance. While other local candidates maintain a more folksy, baby-kissing campaign style, Noble has a sophisticated approach to the political race, complete with her own team of personal pollsters.

In addition to traditional door-to-door campaigning, her pollsters survey community opinions. Noble stumps one neighborhood unfavorable to her candidacy for every three favorable ones, whereas her opponents spend most of their time "talking to the converted," she says.

Election Impetus

Recently, Noble was at the forefront of a well-publicized campaign to establish a drug and alcohol rehab center primarily for gays and lesbians in the city.

After neighborhood opposition squelched the plan in Waltham, Noble found a site in East Cambridge. But again, she says, behind-the-scenes, election-year scheming led to the loss of zoning permits for the center. The project is currently underway in Jamaica Plains.

The experience, however, was an impetus behind her decision to run for council, she says. "Cambridge's system is designed to destroy things, and it's not designed to support decent projects," she says.

But Noble's open scorn for Cambridge politicking and "party hacks" may turn her into a fringe candidate by alienating many of the CCA supporters that might otherwise vote for her because of her gay, white liberal image and her support of rent control--always the bottom-line litmus test of Cambridge politics.

Arthur S. Lipkin '68, a gay activist who teaches at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and works with Cambridge's Lavender Alliance gay and lesbian coalition, says he finds "troubling" Noble's avoidance of CCA affiliation, "because I find the CCA a fairly progressive, [although] not sacrosanct, organization."

Later this month, the Lavender Alliance will issue formal endorsements of candidates for City Council. But according to Lipkin, the idea that gays should support gay politicians is "terrifically naive."