Little Suspense at Senate Parties . . .

For the crowd of John F. Kerry supporters at the Boston Sheraton's Grand Ballroom last night there was never a moment of suspense.

Campaign workers who had been at the polls earlier in the day confidently spoke of strong support for their candidate, and when WBZ-TV reported that the Lieutenant Governor was leading his Republican opponent by 22 points as the party was getting under way, there was only a short burst of bored applause.

But as the room filled and more and more green Heineken bottles littered the tables, Kerry backers began their celebration.

By the time the senator-elect walked on to the stage with about 60 Massachusetts politicians and hangers-on, more than 1000 Kerry supporters pressed against the stage and chanted "Kerry, Kerry."

Kerry's victory speech, which emphasized his campaign commitments to the nuclear freeze movement, was repeatedly interrupted with applause.

The crowd's most enthusiastic response, however, was to a thinly-veiled Kerry threat to Reagan appointees for the Supreme Court. "I will work with Senator [Edward M.] Kennedy ['54 (D-Mass.)] to remind President Reagan that it is the United States Senate that confirms Supreme Court Justices," he told a cheering crowd, emphasizing "the U.S. Senate and not Jerry Falwell."

Gov. Michael S. Dukakis introduced Kerry by noting that he did particularly well among younger voters. Television exit polls showed that Kerry received about 64 percent of the under-30 vote.

The strong youth support was reflected at Kerry headquarters, where over half the supporters appeared to be in their teens and twenties and the band played a selection of upbeat rock and country music in the high-tech ballroom.

One of Kerry's youngest campaigners, 16-year-old Daniel J. French, listened to his candidate's victory speech leaning against a Kerry sign he'd carried outside the polls for five hours yesterday.

French, a student at the Brooks boarding school in North Andover, said he had campaigned for Kerry in his predominantly Republican school during the week and in North Andover and Boston on the weekends.

He added that he convinced all of his teachers to vote for Kerry and persuaded 15 of his schoolmates to canvass for Kerry.

Though a New York resident, French said he was working for Kerry because "With the U.S. Senate, they have a say in everything that goes on in the world, the nuclear freeze, ERA, Central America."

Even at the Kerry party, where many of the campaigners also worked the Mondale-Ferraro campaign, some supporters said they had split their tickets.

Mark N. Contratto, a 24-year-old waiter at a North End Restaurant who has worked on the Kerry campaign for about a month, said he had voted for Reagan.

"I played it safe," he said, "I like Reagan, but I want to see the Democrats have the Congress."

"I feel the Democrats have the House, and I think that anything that hurts the poor will have to pass the House," he explained.