Sign Wars Grip Neighborhoods

North, South, East, and West--Cambridge is plastered with colored square '1' campaign signs and faces plastered on walls and trees.

"On some streets it looks like they're having sign wars, especially on Auburn Street, which has always been a very politically active area," says Elsa Dorfman, a resident of the Riverside area near Mather House.

Dorfman has signs for the liberal Cambridge Civic Association-endorsed candidates Kenneth E. Reeves '72, one of the first Harvard students to live in Mather House; and David E. Sullivan, a graduate of the Law School, on her lawn.

"Everyone should look at Ken Reeves' sign. It's so beautiful," she says.

Signs have long been a staple of the Cambridge electoral wars, as dozens of city council and school committees candidates fight for free publicity to escape the campaigning throng.

The Hare system of proportional representation, which allows voters to pick as many candidates as they wish and rank their preferences, has led candidates to seek any sort of name recognition in the hopes that