Have you Ever seen Michael J. Barrett '70 and Mark Roosevelt '78 in the same place at the same time?

The two front-running candidates for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination seem eerily like the same person.

Both State Sen. Barrett (D-Cambridge) and State Rep. Roosevelt (D-Beacon Hill) are Harvard graduates with moderate to liberal political beliefs.

And they look the same too.

But the two could prove more than a source of amusement--political observers wonder if voters will be able to tell them apart on Election Day.

"The issue is trying to separate them from each other and make the electorate know they are an alternative to [incumbent Gov. William F. Weld '66]," says Cambridge City Councillor Katherine Triantafillou.

The resemblances between Barrett and Roosevelt could also hurt their chances against the third candidate for the Democratic nomination, former State Sen. George Bachrach.

Similarities

Voters trying to decide between the twin candidates have no easy task.

First, they present a similar platform. Both favor abortion rights and oppose new taxes. They also have each come out recently in support of a graduated income tax in Massachusetts.

If politics were a highway, the two would probably sideswipe each other in the middle of the road. They have the same moderate, centrist views onissues ranging from crime to welfare reform.

The two candidates promise to attract newbusinesses to Massachusetts, create new jobs andlimit the welfare benefits given to those nolonger seeking employment.

Theirs is the identical career path: Harvardgov jock to law school to the State House.

And neither of the candidates had an especiallywild social life in college.

Although Barrett admits that he inhaled whilein college, for the most part he isolated himselffrom the prevailing radical social scene.

And Roosevelt said earlier this month, "I wasnot a wild guy at all. I have never been apartier."