Sen. Brooke faces tough challenge in Tuesday vote

(AP)

U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke faces a spirited challenge from a conservative talk-show host in one of the most difficult elections of his career when Massachusetts residents vote in primaries Tuesday.

Primaries also will be held this week in Washington state, where voters will choose candidates for seven U.S. House seats, the state supreme court and legislature, and in Oklahoma, where Democrats choose candidates for governor and U.S. senator in runoff elections.

In Louisiana, incumbent Sen. J. Bennett Johnston, a Democrat, faced strong primary opposition Saturday from State Rep. Louis "Woody" Jenkins.

The race for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts pits Brooke, a twoterm incumbent, against Avi Nelson, 36, whose campaign has been heavily financed by national conservative organizations.

Encouraged by public reception to California's Proposition 13, conservatives in Massachusetts, the only state that voted for Democrat George McGovern in the 1972 presidential election, believe their positions are becoming more popular.

Earlier this summer, Brooke, 58, was cleared of possible perjury charges in connection with his divorce proceedings last year. He had admitted making false statements about his personal finances in divorce papers.

Among those seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate are Howard Phillips, founder and director of the Washington-based Conservative Caucus: U.S. Rep. Paul E. Tsongas; Secretary of State Pauì Guzzi and State Rep. Elaine Noble, an avowed lesbian.