eightened interest in Arizona Senator John S. McCain's campaign against Texas Governor George W. Bush could lead to a record turnout in the Massachusetts Republican presidential primary today, with as many as 550,000 voters likely to request GOP ballots, according to Secretary of State William F. Galvin.
That figure could surpass the previous Republican benchmark of 406,000 voters who participated in 1980 when George Bush narrowly defeated John Anderson and Ronald Reagan here.
However, Galvin expected that today's Democratic contest between Vice President Al Gore and former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley will not shatter the record, also set in 1980, when 924,000 voters cast ballots in the face-off between US Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter. About 700,000 people are expected to vote in the Democratic race before the polls close at 8 tonight.
The projections are based on a record number of new voters - more than 80,000 since the first of the year - and a record number who have registered as independents, many of them younger and more suburban than traditional party members.
The unenrolled phenomenon is reflected nationally and should be taken as ''a wake-up call'' by Democratic and Republican party leaders, Galvin said.
Today's Super Tuesday primary contests span 16 states, including New York, California, and five of the New England states.
In Massachusetts, registered voters who are not enrolled as members of a political party will be able to cast ballots in the Republican, Democratic, or Libertarian presidential primaries. Author Harry Browne is the Libertarian candidate.
McCain, who has been drawing strong support from Democrats and independents in Massachusetts, leads Bush by 31 points here, according to the latest University of Massachusetts tracking poll.
That disparity - and the reasons for it - was evident yesterday during visits to the candidate's Massachusetts headquarters.
McCain's office, which opened a month ago in a vacant storefront in downtown Quincy near what used to be a military recruiting office, has free parking out front, a box of Dunkin' Donuts on a desk, a TV spewing live campaign coverage, veterans milling about, professionals taking a day off to pitch in, a gold-frame picture of Ronald Reagan hung high on the wall and huge maps in the ''war room'' toward the back, a remnant of the travel agency that used to occupy the space.
''We're the campaign trying to reach out to average people,'' said McCain's state director, 22-year-old Buzz Jacobs, who ran for national chairman of the College Republicans before graduating from the University of Alabama. Jacobs said he is disenchanted with the party's backing of Bush.
The Bush office, which opened last summer in basement space on Bromfield Street in downtown Boston, was empty except for two college volunteers, the faint smell of chemicals and lots of signs neatly bundled, waiting to be picked up by those stationed at polls today.
''We're working really hard to get out the vote,'' said Sarah Bonner, a 20-year-old Boston College student, wearing a Bush baseball cap. She clapped her hands three times, as if to pump herself up, and added: ''Our energy level is really high.''
Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, Senator John Kerry campaigned for Gore in Harvard Square yesterday. The Bradley campaign, which had high hopes for Massachusetts just six weeks ago, was the only one running television ads in an effort to boost poll numbers.
The UMass tracking poll yesterday showed Bradley trailing Gore, 31 to 57.
''We believe we'll do better in Massachusetts than a lot of people think,'' said Bradley consultant Michael Goldman. But, he conceded, ''This candidacy had a moment where it really had the opportunity to resonate with voters.''
As for Gore, Massachusetts spokeswoman Alexandra Zaroulis said the campaign is trying to fight the complacency that has come with the vice president's lead.
''We are just basically working hard to get people out to vote,'' she said. ''We are not taking this for granted. We urge people to get out.''
Overall, Galvin said, 36 or 37 percent of the state's registered voters will participate in today's election, down from the 43 percent that took part in the state's 1980 primary contests.
Galvin called his overall projection ''somewhat disappointing,'' and said he hopes the voters prove him wrong.
