Posted on 10/16/2007 6:42:21 PM PDT by Fargo Rock
LOWELL, Mass. --The widow of 1992 presidential candidate Paul Tsongas defeated the brother of an American Airlines pilot slain in the Sept. 11 terror attacks Tuesday in the special election to replace Democrat Martin Meehan in the U.S. House.
Democrat Niki Tsongas of Lowell edged Republican Jim Ogonowski of Dracut, whose brother John died when his plane was hijacked and flown in the World Trade Center. With 170 of 195 precincts reporting, she had 51 percent of the vote to 46 percent for Ogonowski.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
I hate to be doom and gloom, but what happened in Mass is going to be played out nation wide in 2008. Republicans are going to get the mother of all a$$ whippings.
However, it’s not going to stop me from voting a straight ticket.
She makes her Daddy look good.
But I’m afraid I expected nothing else. People who would re-elect Teddy Kennedy or Barney Frank are capable of electing just about anything to public office if it has a (D) after its name.
I feel for them like all captive Republicans in socialist states. Mitt is an anomaly, an error in the Massachusetts
DNA...
That was an outstanding effort for Ogonowski! I only wish I lived in his district so I could have voted for him.
Don't confuse MA with the rest of the country. It's been years since there was a Republican in the national delegation to Congress. The fact that Jim got at least 46% of the vote in a solid Democrat district is just amazing! Republican Presidential candidates only ever get about 37% of the vote here. We've only had Republican Governors because the liberals still want lower income taxes, unless of course if a black candidate is running, then they can assuage their white guilt, which they did when Deval Patrick was elected. They got just what they deserved, though, because he's a bungling fool.
The Republicans in the rest of the country can do very well, if they work hard at it.
“Don’t confuse MA with the rest of the country. It’s been years since there was a Republican in the national delegation to Congress. The fact that Jim got at least 46% of the vote in a solid Democrat district is just amazing! Republican Presidential candidates only ever get about 37% of the vote here. We’ve only had Republican Governors because the liberals still want lower income taxes, unless of course if a black candidate is running, then they can assuage their white guilt, which they did when Deval Patrick was elected. They got just what they deserved, though, because he’s a bungling fool.
The Republicans in the rest of the country can do very well, if they work hard at it.”
Republicans are cowards, they don't have the guts to get down and dirty like the Dims do.
I don't remember Ronald Reagan getting 'down and dirty', and they shoveled tons of carp about him for years. He was optimistic and upbeat, and had a vision for the type of government that wouldn't slow down the economy, and would let people run their own lives. That resonated well with the American people. Unfortunately, the Republicans haven't fielded someone with national stature like him since, but I'm thinking Fred can do it!
And the bright side is what? Tsongas won by 5 precentage points in a special election with a small turnout. On Democrat leaves, another enters. Life goes on.
BTW, he was exactly your kind of RINO, and still came up short. Never, never works.
Squishy on abortion, huh?
“But Tsongas’ support in Lowell and Lawrence was enough to earn her the seat.”
Hmmm, could promising freebies have anything to do with it?
I love how the Globe omits any mention of Jim’s 28-year service to the Air Force.
I was not surprised to hear that Tsongas won, but the surprise was that it was close. Real close. Kerry, Kennedy and Big Bill himself came to shill for her. She won because of Lowell, Lawerence, and the liberal enclave of Concord. All the towns in her district went strongly for Kerry in 04 - to have to rely on the 3 strongest and the big guns on a national level in order to pull this out shows that the Dems are vunerable. This should have been a safe seat and a walk in the park for them.
“This should have been a safe seat and a walk in the park for them.”
Maybe I should have said the glass is half full instead of half empty. Perhaps folks are waking up and taking notice and will do something in 08.
You forgot John (I served in VietNam) Kerry.
46 percent in MA? Not too shabby.
OK the dust is settled, the votes are counted, the turnout was less than half of what it was in 2006, and Tsongas still won by 5 points. When the rest of the Dems turn out a year from now watch for her vote totals to be in the 60 percent plus range, same has they've been for every Dem for the last few decades. Now, what is the bright side of all this?
Otherwise known as John F’n Kerry.
Immigration was a major issue, even in the People’s Republic of MA. The Reps should pay attention to this result and make illegal immigration the defining issue of the 2008 campaign. It cuts across partisan lines.
It hasn't gotten much attention outside of the Boston suburbs and truly hardcore political junkies. But there was a congressional election today. The topline is that the Democrat, Nikki Tsongas, wife of the late Massachusetts senator and presidential candidate Paul Tsongas, won. But the details are much more interesting. As of 10:23 PM, with 88% of precincts reporting, Tsongas has only 51% vs 45% for the Republican Jim Ogonowski.
That is weird. This is Massachusetts, after all, specifically the rim of suburbs to the northwest of Boston, Marty Meehan's (D) old seat, the 5th district. This is strong Democratic territory. At Openleft.com, Chris Bowers says it's a +10 Dem district. (By the way, among many other things, this is one of the best sites to get smart and candid analyses and number-crunches of stuff like this.) One of many eye-popping numbers about this race was that the Republican, Ogonowski, was crushing Tsongas among voters under 35.
So what happened? Bowers had an interesting post yesterday evening analyzing Tsongas' expected narrow victory. His basic verdict is that Tsongas was a lousy candidate, nominated largely on the basis of her husband's reputation, and picked by an "ossifying" local political machine that hadn't faced a real race in decades. But Chris isn't putting that forward just as an excuse; he notes that the same probably applies to the machines that run numerous solidly Dem districts around the country.
There's so much bad data out there for the Republicans today that I'm inclined to think that this is the issue -- a really good Republican candidate, a really bad Democratic candidate. But only fools spin excuses and rationales for data that doesn't square with their assumptions. So I'm not sure I'm ready to let go of this one yet.
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