Liberal Democrat Barney Frank, backed by retiring Rep. Robert Drinan who decided not to seek a sixth term following direct orders from Pope John Paul II, won the Democratic nomination for Congress yesterday in the Fourth Congressional District in Massachusetts.
With all 143 precincts reported, Frank, 40, who is Jewish and a member of the State legislature won 50 percent of the vote to 48 percent for Arthur Clark, the popular six-term Mayor of Waltham, a Boston suburb.
Fifteen candidates initially sought to succeed Drinan, a Jesuit priest, who in his 10 years in the House of Representatives, championed the causes of Soviet Jewry and the security of Israel, including its sovereignty over a unified Jerusalem.
Abortion was the central issue in the bitter campaign after an unprecedented Pastoral letter last week by Boston Cardinal Number to Medeiros, who urged Catholics not to vote for candidates who support abortion. Frank was supported by pro-abortion groups and by leading Democrats including, in addition, to Drinan, Sen. Edward Kennedy and Rep. Ed Markey.
Clark, who also has strongly supported Israel and Soviet Jewry, had the backing of Sen. Henry Jackson (D.Wash.) and numerous prominent Jews in the district, including Dr. Jehudah Leftin, honorary president of the Greater Framingham Jewish Federation. The district is largely Democratic and Frank is expected to win election in November.
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