Local Pols Watch Returns, Slowly

A dozen local politicos, in a traditional ritual, diligently watched election results trickle in precinct-by-precinct at Cambridge Police Headquarters last night.

High drama? Tension you could cut with a knife? Not exactly.

"The results are coming in more slowly than we expected," moped one state senate candidate's aide.

Indeed, longtime observers said this was the slowest counting process in recent memory.

Darleen G. Boniflawski, an election commissioner, attributed the sluggish pace of counting to a change in location from Harvard's Office of Information Technology to the election commission office at the police department.

"It's a new location and a new process so it's taking a little longer," Boniflawski explained.

Not only were the proceedings slow, but many found them tedious as well.

"I wouldn't be here if I hadn't been recruited," said Holly Blake, a Cambridge resident who was phoning in Cambridge precinct results to Heutenant governor candidate Marc D. Draisen's campaign headquarters.

Robert M. Cataldo, a junior at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, came "to learn more about politics" as well as phone in results for state representative candidate Timothy J. Toomey. He said what he learned was that things were a lot more exciting at Toomey's campaign party than at the election commission.

Write-in candidate for state representative Ron Potvin was tending the counting station himself, along with two supporters. He expected to get the 126 votes he needed to appear on the November ballot.

The candidate said the situation was "more slow than nervous," possibly because--as one of his supporters observed--he had no opponent.

Despite the general feeling of boredom, some still managed to find value in witnessing the tally.

The senatorial candidate's aide pointed out that "it's exciting for those of us who are working in the campaign on the inside."