Mass. Group Might Back Own Senatorial Candidate

A newly formed group called Coalition Politics has begun drawing up plans to run a candidate for the seat of Senator Leverett Saltonstall '14 (R-Mass.) in 1966.

The group headed by executives of the Massachusetts Political Action for Peace (Pax), includes representatives from about 20 labor, civil rights, community, peace, and student organizations.

Michael Ansara '67, president of Harvard Students for a Democratic Society, said that individuals in his organization are "extremely interested" in the plans of Coalition Politics, but that SDS has no official policy on it yet.

Minimum Platform

Although an official of Massachusetts Pax claimed that plans are in a very preliminary stage, the group has held three meetings to draw up a "minimum platform" for the candidate. This plan is now under discussion within each of the member organizations.

A spokesman in the Massachusetts Pax office stated that the group wants to elect a liberal candidate to oppose Saltonstall, and "hopefully prevent Saltonstall from running at all if the coalition is big enough, soon enough." The coalition "does not want to support a symbolic losing candidate like H. Stuart Hughes," but a liberal candidate who has a chance of winning, she added.

She noted that the main problem has been forming a platform with a minimum number of requirements agreeable to all member organizations. The candidate could be a Republican or a Democrat, or even from a third party "as a last resort," she noted.

The Massachusetts group is a branch of National Coalition Politics, which met first in Santa Barbara in August, and then in Washington, D.C.

ADA 'Not Committed'

A. Sprague Coolidge '15, chairman of Massachusetts Americans for Democratic Action, attended all three of the meetings that Coalition Politics has held. He stated that ADA was interested but "not commited in any way" to the group.

A spokesman from the Boston office of SDS said that her organization considered the group's plans "tentative" and also offered no commitment.