In the past 50 years, only four men have represented Massachusetts' eighth congressional district, the scraggly block of land that winds its way through the working class, upper class and middle class neighborhoods of Boston and its suburbs.

The men are all legends--from Massachusetts' original James Michael Curley to a young idealist named John F. Kennedy '40, to the shepherd of the Democratic revolution in Congress, Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, to blue-collar standard bearer, Joseph P. Kennedy III.

Since the days of James Michael Curley and ward politics, the district has been its shape and boundaries radically change to the fit the molds of proportional representation.

Today the district makes up approximately one third of Boston and stretches north to five of Boston's bedroom communities--Watertown, Cambridge, Somerville, Chelsea and Belmont.

"The district spans the spectrum from very poor people living in some of the poorest neighborhoods with very high degrees of infant morality and joblessness to some of the most affluent neighborhoods in the country, if not the world," says Brian O'Connor, a Kennedy staffer.

Definite Diversity

According to the 1990 Census figures, 601,643 people live in the eighth district.

Nearly 40 percent are minorities. African Americans comprise 23.3 percent of the district, Americans of Hispanic descent 10.6 percent and Asian Americans almost 6 percent.

With these numbers, it's not surprising that the district's voters have long had a certain leftward lean about them.

The district, in the words of author George V. Higgins, "is a reasonably homogeneous fief in which Democratic loyalists constituted just under 41 percent of the voters."

Today, of 56,000 registered voters, nearly 60 percent of Cantabrigians are Democrats compared to the 8 percent who are Republicans.

President Bill Clinton received almost 80 percent of the district's vote in 1992, one of his highest percentages in the nation.

Despite a rise in the incomes of middle class African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and European immigrants, most still work as clerical and service staff in the district's many hospitals, colleges and hotels.

Political Efficacy

Over the past 50 years, the district's distinct voting block has produced an archetypal candidate.