September 5, 2007
Posted: 02:23 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) — It’s been almost three decades since the name “Tsongas” has appeared on a general election ballot in Massachusetts. That streak is about to end. Niki Tsongas, widow of the late Paul Tsongas – the former Bay State senator and 1992 presidential candidate – won a hotly contested Democratic primary fight Tuesday in the Commonwealth’s Fifth Congressional District. Tsongas, currently a dean at Middlesex Community College, finished first in a five-candidate field with 36 percent of the vote. She edged out Lowell City Councilor Eileen Donoghue, who captured 31 percent. Tsongas has now won the right to face off against the GOP nominee, Jim Ogonowski, who trounced his sole opponent, Marine Corps veteran/consumer activist Tom Tierney, by a 78 percent margin in the Republican primary. Ogonowski’s brother, John, was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, which was hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11.
Tsongas is the odds-on favorite to win the October 16 special election in deep blue Massachusetts. The Commonwealth’s twelve-member congressional delegation — including both U.S. Senate seats — is entirely Democratic. No Republican has carried the fifth district since 1972. Tsongas, in her first bid for public office, is also hoping to capitalize on the fact that President Bush and the war in Iraq are extremely unpopular in Massachusetts. Discarding the advice of fellow Bay State politician Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, who once famously proclaimed that all politics is local, Tsongas has moved quickly to nationalize the race. During her victory speech Tuesday night, according to the Boston Globe, the Democratic nominee declared that the election would be “a referendum on the presidency of George Bush.” Tsongas has pledged to push for an Iraq troop withdrawal deadline of March, 2008. If Tsongas wins, she will become the first woman to join the Bay State’s congressional delegation since Margaret Heckler, who was defeated when her district was merged with Barney Frank’s in 1982. The fifth district, which was represented by Paul Tsongas for two terms in the mid-1970s, was vacated on July 1 by former Rep. Marty Meehan, who left Congress to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. – CNN Political Producer/Researcher Alan Silverleib Filed under: Uncategorized
|
 
About The Ticker
The latest political news from CNN's Best Political Team, with campaign coverage, 24-7. Sign up for our twice daily Ticker emails. Got a news tip or feedback? For complete political coverage, bookmark CNNPolitics.com.  CNN=Politics Screensaver
New in the Ticker
Follow us on Twitter
Categories
Archive
Popular Posts
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
CNN Comment Policy: CNN encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You may not post any unlawful, threatening, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or other material that would violate the law. All comments should be relevant to the topic and remain respectful of other authors and commenters. You are solely responsible for your own comments, the consequences of posting those comments, and the consequences of any reliance by you on the comments of others. By submitting your comment, you hereby give CNN the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, cablecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comment(s) and accompanying personal identifying and other information you provide via all forms of media now known or hereafter devised, worldwide, in perpetuity. CNN Privacy Statement.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
