S Senator Edward M. Kennedy, seeking a record seventh term against a field of five little-known candidates, discovered yesterday that, while he may be heavily favored, the race won't be comfortable, or conventional.
The Libertarian Party candidate Carla Howell, with over $500,000 in her account, launched a series of tough radio ads blaming him for creating the Big Dig traffic snarls and cost overruns.
Howell used images of ''pork,'' ''bacon,'' and ''fat cats'' to denounce the portly Kennedy for delivering the federal money to fund the $14 billion Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project.
''No more pork. No more bacon. No more Big Digs,'' Howell declares, blaming Kennedy for the traffic jams, the overruns, waste - and even the corruption - that she claims are associated with the project.
Meanwhile, the only Republican candidate, Jack E. Robinson, who once vowed to go toe-to-toe with Kennedy in fund-raising and organization, yesterday outlined a sharply scaled-back campaign, including details of where he would locate his headquarters.
''Our campaign headquarters is in cyberspace,'' Robinson said. ''We will not have a brick and mortar headquarters. We are going to rewrite the rules for campaigning in the new-age economy.''
Six weeks ago, Robinson, buoyed by a state Supreme Judicial Court decision that placed him on the GOP primary ballot, said he would raise up to $7 million and hire a fleet of consultants, media advisers, and staff.
''We have completely changed our strategy,'' said Robinson in a telephone interview while stuck in traffic in Stoughton. ''We are running a guerrilla campaign, kind of like the Colonial militia against the Redcoats.''
Robinson, who fought his way onto the GOP primary ballot despite opposition by party leaders and Governor Paul Cellucci, said he has only raised between $20,000 and $25,000 since July 1. He blamed the summer months for the slow fund-raising pace, but he also acknowledged his campaign budget is down to the bare bones.
''This will be an unorthodox campaign, with minimal expenses,'' Robinson said. He said Kennedy's 1994 GOP opponent, millionaire businessman Mitt Romney, demonstrated that raising as much money as Kennedy and relying on a host of political operatives is futile.
''We are going to focus on new ways of doing things through the Internet and through grass-roots campaigning,'' Robinson said.
Robinson also issued a challenge to Kennedy to debate him twice in October.
Will Keyser, a spokesman in Kennedy's Washington office, declined comment on either Howell's charges or Robinson's challenge for a debate.
While Robinson takes to cyberspace to challenge Kennedy, another challenger, Philip Hyde III of Somerville, will also be on the ballot. His party designation is ''Timesizing not Downsizing.''
Also on the ballot is Dale E. Friedgen of Worcester, who desginated himself unenrolled but ran for Congress in 1996 in the Third District as the Natural Law Party candidate. A conservative, Philip Lawler of Lancaster, is also on the ballot as the Constitution Party nominee.
