The top two officials in charge of enforcing Massachusetts liquor laws said Oct. 16 they strongly oppose the ballot question that would allow more food stores to sell wine.

Voters in more than one-third of Massachusetts' cities and towns will get a rare chance to register their opinion on the war in Iraq next month when they consider a ballot question on whether the United States should immediately withdraw all troops.

The Massachusetts chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which has adopted a neutral position in the debate over allowing more food stores to sell wine, lists as sponsors two of the supermarket chains leading the fight for the wine measure.

The state's liquor wholesalers and package stores launched a TV campaign suggesting that drunken-driving fatalities could double if a ballot question that would allow more Massachusetts food stores to sell wine succeeds.

There's a revolution going on out there in how wine is sold. Can good old Georgie, your friendly package-store owner -- backed by the deep pockets of the liquor distributors and his pals at the State House -- continue to block it at the Massachusetts state line?

The big supermarket chains don't seem to be as price-competitive on wine as their campaign literature would lead you to believe.

So far, supermarket chains have pumped $2.8 million into their campaign for more licenses to sell wine, while package stores, liquor wholesalers, and beer distributors have raised $857,000 to defeat the plan at the polls in November.