2007.08.24: August 24, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Ethiopia: Politics: Boston Herald: Niki Tsongas is clear favorite for Democratic nomination in the Fifth Congressional District special primary election Sept. 4
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2007.08.24: August 24, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Ethiopia: Politics: Boston Herald: Niki Tsongas is clear favorite for Democratic nomination in the Fifth Congressional District special primary election Sept. 4
Niki Tsongas is clear favorite for Democratic nomination in the Fifth Congressional District special primary election Sept. 4
She has great name recognition, more money than any other candidate, clout already with powerful members of Congress and, in a recent WBZ-TV poll, topped the combined total of her two closest opponents. She anted up early with more than $1 million, ample for expensive TV ads. Her late husband Paul Tsongas is a local legend who led a revitalization of Lowell and held the congressional seat (which Marty Meehan has vacated) until he was elected to the Senate in 1978. And from her years in Washington with Paul, she knows personally several current movers and shakers on Capitol Hill. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Government Reform Oversight Committee, will be coming to Massachusetts to help her in the campaign’s closing days. “It’s the legacy of this seat” that helps move her, Tsongas told me. “Edith Nourse Rogers, the first woman from Massachusetts to be elected to Congress and who served for 34 years. Paul’s understanding of the leverage and power of the federal government” to spur private investment, as it did in Lowell. The late Paul Tsongas, Senator from Massachusetts and candidate for President in 1992, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia in the 1960's.
Niki Tsongas is clear favorite for Democratic nomination in the Fifth Congressional District special primary election Sept. 4
Leading ladies fight for Fifth
By Wayne Woodlief
Boston Herald Columnist
Friday, August 24, 2007
Niki Tsongas is the clear favorite for the Democratic nomination in the Fifth Congressional District special primary election Sept. 4.
She has great name recognition, more money than any other candidate, clout already with powerful members of Congress and, in a recent WBZ-TV poll, topped the combined total of her two closest opponents.
She anted up early with more than $1 million, ample for expensive TV ads. Her late husband Paul Tsongas is a local legend who led a revitalization of Lowell and held the congressional seat (which Marty Meehan has vacated) until he was elected to the Senate in 1978.
And from her years in Washington with Paul, she knows personally several current movers and shakers on Capitol Hill. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Government Reform Oversight Committee, will be coming to Massachusetts to help her in the campaign’s closing days.
A sure winner? No way, says Eileen Donoghue, the Lowell city councilor and former mayor who proclaims that the race has narrowed to her and Tsongas (though Jamie Eldridge, Barry Finegold and Jim Miceli, the three state reps also vying for the seat, would disagree) - and that she, Donoghue, is closing fast.
“Some of the big shots say this race is over,” Donoghue told seniors at the Francis Gate Senior Housing center Wednesday. “But I’ve talked with people all over this district and I say this race is not over. We are not going to yield to the special interests who try to tell us how to vote.”
(That’s Donoghue-speak especially aimed at EMILY’s List, the Washington PAC that supports pro-choice Democratic women, and has kicked in money and networking for Tsongas.
Donoghue, buoyed by endorsements this week by the Lowell Sun and Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, seeks to overcome Tsongas’ advantages by piling up a big lead in Lowell, staying close in other parts of the district and turning out her base better than other candidates in what looms as a low-turnout primary. It’s the day after Labor Day, after all. And Donoghue has the warmth, connectiveness and spontaneity to make this congressional race closer than expected.
Take that visit to Francis Gate. On the way in, Barbara Bellerose, a retired seamstress, stopped Donoghue to say, “You’re the only one who’s stayed with Lowell. I’m with you, hon.”
Another retiree, Linda Wesinger, urged the candidate to keep focusing on health care and independent living for seniors.
“You have my word,” Donoghue said, and Wesinger replied, “I’ve had your word for 11 years (on the council) and you’ve always followed through.”
Still, Tsongas’ opponents have another problem. The campaign has been largely free of discord and back-biting, and there’s little difference among the candidates (except for the more conservative Miceli) on major issues. That’s good news for voters and even better news for a frontrunner.
Donoghue and Tsongas even tell similar stories to stress the shameful care that many troops wounded in Iraq have received back in the states.
Tsongas speaks movingly of watching a veteran walk on two prosthetic legs across a physical rehab room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and of the neglect others have suffered. Donoghue cites an amputee who was told he’d have to ride across the country on a bus for treatment, until friends collected enough money for a flight.
Tsongas said she’d set up a veterans’ advisory committee in the district to help her reform the system.
“It’s the legacy of this seat” that helps move her, Tsongas told me. “Edith Nourse Rogers, the first woman from Massachusetts to be elected to Congress and who served for 34 years. Paul’s understanding of the leverage and power of the federal government” to spur private investment, as it did in Lowell.
A seat in Congress, she said, “is the only public office where you can tackle big issues (like Iraq and health care) and take them into those intimate places where people live their lives. I want to help carry on that legacy.”
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: August, 2007; RPCV Paul Tsongas (Ethiopia) ; Figures; Peace Corps Ethiopia; Directory of Ethiopia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Ethiopia RPCVs; Politics; Massachusetts
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Story Source: Boston Herald
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Ethiopia; Politics
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