O'Connor Blasts Senate Opponent In Quick Political Visit to Square

Thomas J. O'Connor raced into the Harvard Square area yesterday afternoon, blasted his opponent for the U.S. Senate, and shot off just as quickly for more campaigning in western Massachusetts.

The 38-year-old Democratic mayor of Springfield stopped at the "O'Connor for Senator" headquarters on Palmer St. behind the Coop for a stinging four-minute speech at 2 p.m. Before several office girls hanging out of windows and a handful of expressionless passers-by, O'Connor labeled Sen. Leverett Saltonstall '14, "an ultra-conservative who advocates maintaining the status quo."

"Saltonstall," the mayor said, "votes with Barry Goldwater more than he does for the interests of us Northerners. He does no harm in the Senate, and it might be all right to leave him there if the country weren't in such urgent need of action."

The O'Connor motorcade sirened down Mass. Ave. from Central Square and came to a halt at the modest O'Connor headquarters at the Poets' Theatre on Palmer St. The mayor took one look at the shabby office and cracked, "We Democrats in Massachusetts have a small budget."