Drinan: Glad to Win But Not Ecstatic

NEWTON HIGH SCHOOL students etched the latest returns on a huge, white bulletin board Robert F. Drinan-25,566 votes; Martin A. Kinsky-21,406: John I Collins-1743. A small roar went up from the 600 Drinan supporters who had gathered in the Tiara Room of the plush Sidney Hill Country Club in Newton. Their enthusiasm was short-lived. The middle-aged liberals from Brookline soon returned to the bar for more screwdrivers: the young volunteers from Wellesley, Harvard, Radcliffe, and Newton High School gathered in small circles and finished their Budweisers, while the members of the rock band who had been hired for the night glanced at the clock, realized it was only 10 p.m., and quickly struck up a new tune. Nobody was too excited.

There were several reasons for the calm mood prevalent among Drinan supporters. First, their candidate had been picked by the polls to win the Fourth Congressional District by a comfortable margin. The Becker Research Corporation, which conducts surveys for the Boston Globe, gave Drinan a 21-point lead as of September 23. One week later, the research group released the results of another poll which showed Drinan leading by ten points. Obviously Linsky, a 31-year-old liberal Republican who had served in the State House of Representatives for six years, was gaining, but Drinan's followers were convinced that Linsky's push was coming too late.

Second, the returns just posted came from precincts in Newton and Brookline -- Drinan's two major strongholds. In 1970, when Drinan, a 51-year-old Roman Catholic priest, upset 28-year-incumbent Philip Philbin, a conservative Democrat, and Republican John McGlennon, one out of every five Newton voters was listed as a Drinan volunteer. Brookline, Linsky's home town, is composed predominantly of wealthy liberals who were attracted by Drinan's strong anti-Vietnam, pro-Israel stands. In the October 30 poll published by the Globe, Drinan led Linsky in Brookline by more than ten points. The returns from these two areas, then, were hardly a surprise. The cities and towns in the west where Philbin had done well in the west where Philbin had yet to be heard from.

THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL reason for the lack of exuberance in the Tiara Room was the showing of George McGovern. At 8:30 p.m., NBC projected a Nixon triumph. One hour later, all three television networks announced a Nixon victory, and predicted that the President would win by a landslide. The students and suburbanites watching the television sets scattered about the room shook their heads as state after state rolled into Nixon's camp. "I just can't believe it," one young volunteer said. Others were more bitter. A middle-aged man, with a mustache and fairly long sideburns, sat on a chair in the press room, gulped gin and tonics, and said over and over again in a low voice. "America deserves what it gets. America deserves what it gets."

Over at Linsky's headquarters in the Chateau Garod on Beacon Street, people remained hopeful. Farly in the evening Governor Francis Sargent appeared and told the crowd that "Marty is a very special guy." In 1970, Sargent picked Linsky as his candidate for Lieutenant Governor, and then dumped him when Linsky was found driving late at night in Boston with a woman convicted of prostitution. At about 10 p.m., several hours after Sargent had left, Linsky told his supporters that he was "very optimistic." "We figured we'd have to come out in Newton and Brookline no worse than 6000 votes down in order to win: that's just about where we're going to be. We're right on course," Linsky said hopefully.

At 11:30 p.m., the pace began to pick up at Drinan headquarters. The results from Waltham, which Linsky had hoped to take, showed Drinan winning by 2000 votes. Immediately after the Waltham returns were posted, McGovern launched into his concession speech and everyone turned toward the television sets. The crowd remained quiet until McGovern said. "We do not rally to the support of policies that we deplore, but we do love this country and we will continue to beckon it to a higher standard." Everyone cheered. As soon as McGovern finished speaking, Drinan emerged from seclusion, strode to the front of the Tiara Room in his clerical garb, and gave a short, emotional speech.

Drinan began by thanking the voters for giving him "an over-whelming mandate." Nobody caught the joke, including the press which interpreted the remark as a victory statement. Drinan then lauded Massachusetts as "the peace state" which delivered "its mandate to George McGovern." He concluded his talk by saying "Come hell or high water, we'll obtain our objective, that supreme objective of everyone here and everyone in the country: peace in this world." The cheers were lusty, but there was none of the bedlam which had broken out in Drinan's headquarters on election night two years ago. Drinan smiled as be heard the cheers, consented to a few interviews, shook some hands, and then disappeared once again.

Between midnight and 2 a.m., the returns from the western cities and towns began to come in. The results showed Drinan not only holding his own but winning in the west's three major cities--Leominster. Fitchburg, and Framingham At 2:30 a.m., a weary Linsky told his followers. "We're pretty near the point where you all should go home but I'm not yet ready to throw to the fowel" Thirty minutes later he telephoned Drian and conceded.

Drinan who is one of the few people able to practice the New Politics successfully, ran an effective campaign, especially in the western cities which had been plagued by high unemployment rules. He was Framingham by 600 votes, Leominster by 1900 votes, and Fitchburg by more than 3000 votes. These three cities, along with Waltham, Newton and Brookline, provided Drinan with his 8000-vote margin of victory. Drinan, by once again attracting an army of volunteers, by making himself highly visible in the west, especially Fitchburg where he set up one of his campaign headquarters; and by employing his $150,000 campaign fund judiciously, not only scored heavily among eastern liberals but also managed to keep the less liberal western Democrats in the party fold.

Linsky fan an aggressive campaign but was unable to overcome three major handicaps. First, he was an unknown quantity to many people. The October 30 poll showed that one out of every four voters had no opinion of Linsky whatsoever. Second his stands on Vietnam, Israel abortion, women's rights, and other major issues were similar to Drinan's Thus, conservative Democrats whom Linsky hoped to attract, either staved with Drinan or voted for the Conservative candidate John I Collins Finally. Linsky campaigned as a Republican in the one state in the country which went to McGovern Stephen P. Crosby Linskys campaign manager commented after the election that there is a unique anti Nixon feeling in Massachusetts. Marty only supported Nixon nominally, but in this state and association with the President even a Republican tag can be damaging.

Drinan, like most of his followers was pleased but not ecstatic about the victory In a telephone conversation with the Crimson three days after the election, he called the entire campaign "kind of an annoyance," "I mean, how can anyone dare to question my record? he asked jokingly. Obviously, most people didn't