Democrats let hair down and spirits rise

It was this: Which parties to go to and in what order?

There was polite conversation among mostly Reilly supporters at Senate President Robert E. Travaglini's bash at Maxwell's. Worcester County Sheriff Guy W. Glodis presided over a slick nightclub scene with Jell-O shots and black lights. There was chicken satay and meringue music at a massive party with US Representative James P. McGovern and Deval L. Patrick. House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi held court at a dark club where the DJ spun Sly and the Family Stone.

Patrick fans packed Viva Bene Italian Ristorante and spilled into a tent on the street . Space was so tight for a time that middle-aged women in dresses, tired of waiting in line to get outside, climbed out the accordion windows onto the sidewalk. Inside, college students danced alongside senior citizens to a DJ playing '90s hits, while Radhy Montero and His Orchestra, a salsa band from Boston, took a break.

The Rev. Gloria Jones , 54 , of Wareham wore a crown of Patrick bumper stickers on her head.

``He seems like a good man to do the job," she said, beaming. ``And when I see all the love from all these people here to support him, that accounts for something, right?"

A couple of blocks away, Glodis's party was in full swing at Seven , a nightclub lit with fake torches. Waitresses skimmed by with trays of sushi and kiwi Jell-O shots. At the check-in table, young women handed out pens and keychains emblazoned with the sheriff's name, and a sales representative for Pravda vodka, a sponsor, invited guests to try a taste test with Grey Goose.

Holding court under black lights in the back of the room, Glodis, 37, seemed pleased with his efforts. He said his party needed to learn to appeal to young people more.

``Politics should be fun," he said with a grin.

Travaglini's party featured Reilly's biggest supporters in the Senate, including Ways and Means chairwoman Therese Murray of Plymouth and Steven Panagiotakos of Lowell. Everyone expressed confidence Reilly would make the primary ballot easily in today's voting. A couple of blocks over, DiMasi's party drew several House members to its open bar.

The festivities began two hours before the convention opened at a massive bash hosted by the AFL-CIO, where each of the gubernatorial candidates took turns addressing a spirited crowd at an AFL-CIO party honoring US Senator Edward M. Kennedy just before the convention opened last night.

Kennedy, the leading labor voice in the US Senate, whipped an upstairs room at Leo's Ristorante into a frenzy of cheers and whistles with a fiery speech lambasting the Bush administration's labor record and exhorting union members to work to elect a Democratic governor for the first time in 20 years.

``The trade union movement built this country!" he cried, as the crowd roared approval. ``They're going to take this country back!"

The crowd of about 200 packed the dim, low-ceilinged room from one brick wall to the other. The guests, a mix of sport jackets and windbreakers, sipped bottled beer and wine and helped themselves to platters of chopped-up pizza crusts, shouting to one another over the hoarse-voiced candidates at the mike.

``These people are political junkies," said Robert Haynes, the Massachusetts AFL-CIO president and master of ceremonies. ``The passion in this room about moving the agenda is palpable."