Massachusetts governor files $3 million libel suit

Politicians seldom enjoy the jabs they get from the newspapers that cover them.

Massachusetts Gov. Edward J. King is no exception. And now his longtime feud with the Boston Globe has erupted into a $3.6 million libel suit against the paper for columns and cartoons Governor King says subjected him to ridicule and questioned his competence.

The suit filed Monday in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston accused the paper of publishing ''false and defamatory'' political columns and satirical cartoons about the governor.

Mr. King is a conservative Democrat who is seeking a second term this year.