Bachrach Campaign Poll Shows Him In 2nd Place

Contrary to earlier Eighth Congressional District polls, a survey funded by candidate George Bachrach and released yesterday placed the hopeful far ahead of his rival for second place in the race.

While Bachrach and Melvin H. King have tied for second place in other polls, the Bachrach-commissioned survey estimates that the state senator has more than twice as much support as King.

Joseph P. Kennedy II, who leads the race, has consistently received at least a third of the district's support. The Bachrach poll of 400 voters indicates that 34 percent back Kennedy, 22 percent favor Bachrach and only 10 percent support King.

However, King staffers questioned the figures, which approximate the choices of district residents who voted in the last election.

Charges of Exaggeration

King's campaign manager, Barry Weisberg, said, "There he goes again." Weisberg charged that a recent series of Bachrach campaign statistics exaggerated the Watertown state senator's popularity.

Elizabeth Campbell Elliott, Bachrach's campaign manager, attributed the increase in popularity to a $100,000 media campaign that started in mid-May, after the other polls had already been taken. Television and radio spots depict the candidate as a determined underdog.

Weisberg also accused the Bachrach campaign of "believing that a Black person can't win." He condemned an early campaign poster that called Bachrach "a congressman for the rest of us," showing him with an all-white group of supporters. The poster was later changed to include a more ethnically diverse group.

Weisberg said that polls have consistently underestimated King grassroots support. Press secretary John Demeter recalled King's unsuccessful 1983 mayoral campaign, when polls incorrectly predicted that the candidate would not survive the primary election.

Summertime

The Eighth Congressional District race shows few signs of relaxing in these traditionally duller summer months. The race has grown hotter and dirtier between King and Bachrach, as each strives to capture a majority of the Democrats who oppose Kennedy.

In this perennially Democratic district, many observers call the race as good as over on the day of the state primary. This means that the candidates must gear their final push to a September, rather than a November, election. And it means they can't afford to slow down during the summer.

On September 16, seven Democrats will vie for a single spot on their party's ticket.

State Rep. Thomas M. Gallagher (D-Allston), decided he couldn't take the heat from his rivals' summer campaigns, and backed out of the race on Thursday. James Roosevelt, Jr. '69 is still in the race, as are nuclear freeze activists Carla Johnston and Robert O'Connell. Lyndon LaRouche supporter Richard Black is still officially a candidate, though a low-profile one.

Of possible Republican nominees, none has received even 5 percent of voter support in any opinion poll.