ne candidate is a 20-year veteran of the US House and a key spokesman for progressive Democrats on Capitol Hill. The other two are political unknowns making their first bids for office.
The race between US Representative Barney Frank and his two opponents, Martin D. Travis and David J. Euchner, looks to be the classic mismatch. But that hasn't discouraged the challengers from trying to bring their messages before voters in the 4th Congressional District, which includes the communities of Newton and Wellesley in the Globe West circulation area.
Both Travis, a Raynham Republican, and Euchner, a Millis Libertarian, have sent out mailings, erected lawn signs, and distributed bumper stickers.
For his part, Frank insists that he takes the challenge seriously. Though tied down in Washington on congressional business, the Newton Democrat has begun making campaign stops and is taking part in four debates.
A former state legislator, Frank, 60, serves on the House Banking and Financial Services, and Judiciary committees.
He said that a continuing theme for him in Congress is to address ''an overriding issue'' for the country: ''How do you continue economic progress and get the full benefits of a flourishing free-market economy while dealing with some of the negative side effects,'' including environmental and traffic problems. ''You need an active government to monitor that. And secondly, you need the government to deal with problems of equity, because the market creates more wealth, but it doesn't always do it in an equitable way.''
Frank also highlights his advocacy for the district. He noted, for example, his work to maintain affordable housing, his support for the fishing and cranberry industries, and the funding he has delivered for such projects such as the clean-up and restoration of the Muddy River in Brookline and Boston, and the preservation of the historic Corson Building in New Bedford.
A self-employed consultant to restaurant builders since last November, Travis was previously a project and account mananger for two other firms in that same field. He was a member of the National Guard from 1987 to 1999.
''My interests are helping people, and I think my life shows that,'' he said, pointing, for example, to his participation in a church program through which he mentored boys and young adults, and the time and resources that he has donated to local food banks.
Travis accused Frank of pursuing an ''anti-family'' agenda on economic and education issues, saying that by contrast he would favor policies to help families. As examples, he pointed to Frank's votes against measures to repeal the marriage-penalty tax, his opposition to unrestricted education grants to states and localities, and his votes against school-choice measures.
Frank said he supported a Democratic plan for repealing the marriage penalty, but voted against the Republican bill because it included tax cuts for couples not paying a marriage penalty. He said he believes federal education funding should include some conditions to ensure, for instance, that there is adequate spending on programs for disabled or disadvantaged children. He said local educators in his district have not opposed that approach. He said he opposes school voucher programs because they deprive public schools of needed resources.
Euchner, who has a law degree, has worked the past four years as an information-technology consultant for a Boston firm. He said he is running to promote the values of the Libertarian Party, including support for ''the rights of the individual,'' but also for ''the responsibilities of the individual and the power of the individual to govern his or her own life.''
He said he is also running to offer ''practical alternatives to failed government programs.'' He said, for example, that he favors abolishing the federal Department of Education and instead allowing local communities to set their own education priorities. He also favors eliminating Social Security - those who have paid into the system would have those monies returned to them in the form of annuities - and doing away with the federal income tax.
