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FALL RIVER -- Two weeks ago, Sam Sutter said he could not win the Bristol County district attor ney's race without taking the Attleboro area.

He could not have been more wrong.

Sutter upset 16-year incumbent Paul Walsh by sweeping the cities of Fall River, Taunton and Walsh's hometown of New Bedford, despite losing the Attleboro area.

The unofficial final count was 33,912 for Sutter and 32,003 for Walsh.

The voting pattern was clear. In areas where gang activity, gun violence and drugs are booming and the two men were well known, Sutter won.

Walsh was able to pre vail in the areas where crime is not a major fear and the district attorney is not a high-visibility office.

Many voters in the southern end of the county cited well-known cases in which Walsh reduced the charges against a defen dant or failed to solve crimes as reasons for wanti ng change.

During his time in office, crime has grown out of control in the New Bedford-Fall River area, they said.

`` The past few years, both Fall River and New Bedford have seen a huge increase in drug use and gang violence and crimes against the elderly,'' community activist Michael Ramos of Fall River said.

`` It would be unfair to blame Paul Walsh alone for that, but you have to start somewhere if you want change.''

He said the dire situation in the area was brought home when there was a stabbing death in New Bedford just blocks from where the two candidates were holding a debate.

The victory by Sutter was stunning on several levels and even some of his campaign volunteers conceded they were surprised.

As the results started to roll in, they passed out bottles of `` Sutter Home'' wine and sang `` Na, Na, Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) toward Walsh.

In July, Walsh commissioned a poll that he said showed him leading by 23 points in New Bedford, 28 points in Fall River and 25 points in Taunton. He ended up losing all three cities.

Walsh started the campaign with $500,000 in his campaign account and four terms worth of name recognition.

He also owned a political organization that included many Fall River and New Bedford public figures.

Sutter was virtually unknown and had almost no campaign money outside the $70,000 he loaned himself.

`` In the beginning, he was definitely the underdog, but he worked hard and there was a lot of unhappiness with Paul Walsh,'' said John Picard, the former chief executive for Fall River Mayor John Lambert.

That unhappiness peaked with a demonstration outside Walsh's office by community groups and crime victims complaining of the high number of unsolved murders in New Bedford.

Several supporters cited the backing Sutter got from various police unions as a key to his victory.

Ramos said people who know little about the district attorney had to question why police were so angry with him.

The campaign was full of oddities.

Walsh, for instance, initially refused to participate in a debate in Taunton. But, when Sutter proceeded toward the forum alone, Walsh suddenly walked in as Sutter was giving his opening address.

Then Walsh ran a television ad purporting to be interviews with ordinary people praising his job performance.

It was soon revealed that several of the people were actually Walsh employees, and one was a convicted felon.

Adding to the color, Sutter once worked for Walsh as an assistant district attorney, including time at Attleboro District Court.

Sutter ran on a platform of not plea bargaining cases with major drug dealers, forming task forces to strike at gang violence and guns and repairing relations with police.

He also said he would get rid of politicians working for a community relations program and use the savings to hire more prosecutors.

Picard said Walsh fell victim to the same faults he used to defeat Ronald Pina 16 years ago.

Walsh padded his payroll with politicians and refused to disclose his spending habits, Picard said.

`` It came back to haunt him. History does repeat itself,'' he said.