Chisholm Launches State Presidential Bid

Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D--N.Y.) plunged into the Massachusetts Presidential primary fight yesterday in a rally-press conference at the Cambridge Community Center.

"Work hard for me. You've never given your vote to a person looking like me before," the black, woman candidate told a receptive crowd of about 300 supporters and press members.

Chisholm said that even if her chances of gaining the Democratic presidential nomination were slight, she hoped a strong showing for her would bring political concessions for politically "disadvantaged" groups at the convention.

"We need an American Dream on the ballot. A black man as vice-president, a woman as head of HEW and an Indian as head of the Department of the Interior, that's the American Dream come true. If I can't get the nomination, at least I can get that commitment," she said.

The Chisholm campaign is running full slates of delegates pledged to the Brooklyn Congresswoman in the Ninth District (Louise Day Hicks's district, which includes Roxbury), and the Fourth District (Father Robert F. Drinan's district, which includes Brookline and Newton). These slates will be in competition with a number of other slates, including one in each district pledged to Senator George McGovern (D-S. Dak.).

In five other districts, the Chisholm people are running on coalition slates with delegates pledged to McGovern. In the Eighth District, which includes Cambridge, City Councillor Saundra Graham and School Committeeman Charles Pierce are running pledged to Chisholm.

Chisholm's Ninth District slate includes Patricia Bonner-Lyons, unsuccessful candidate for School Committee in Cambridge last year; Mel King, former head of the Urban League in Boston; and Byron D. Rushing '64.

Graham is chairman of Chisholm's Massachusetts campaign. Cambridge Mayor Barbara Ackermann is also on the Chisholm steering committee