Word: drinan
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...Republican National Committee has targeted the fourth district as one of ten races in the country it really wants to win. The district was targeted in the 1972 election, but Drinan won then although he received less than 50 per cent of the vote. The National Committee's action may even have a negative affect on Mason. "It makes Drinan look like a hero," Martin A. Linsky, the fourth district's Republican candidate in 1972, says...
...when Linsky ran, there were three candidates in the race--the third a conservative independent who lost in the Republican primary but collected enough signatures to run in the general election. The 1970 and 1974 races were also three-way, and Drinan has never received more than 50 per cent of the district's vote...
This fact has fueled much of Mason's campaign. Linsky estimates that 25 per cent of the people hate Drinan, but adds that "no one will win on Drinan's unpopularity...
Mason will be counting on the western part of the district because the eastern portion is pretty much in Drinan's pocket. The Catholics in the west often say they don't like a priest in politics and seem enthusiastic about the challenger up until Election Day. Linsky is familiar with this phenomenon. "People complain about a priest in politics, but in Fitchburg they vote 8-to-1 or 9-to-1 for him. The people fall all over you, but once they get into the voting booth, they don't want to vote against someone who is a 'messenger...
...stay fairly even in the rest of the distdrict to have a chance to win. Mason is now favored in Framingham, which has large blue-collar and middle class communities. State Representative Barbara Grey gives Mason a slighted edge in Framingham because he is better-organized and because of Drinan's liberal views on abortion, which are being criticized in local churches...