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Tsongas wins special election to Congress in MA

Niki Tsongas, widow of former Senator and Presidential candidate Paul Tsongas, has won the special election in Massachusetts' 5th Congressional District to replace Rep. Marty Meehan, according to The Hill (click the link for their full report).

Tsongas defeated Republican Jim Ogonowski by an estimated 51-46% in the "safe" Democratic district. Ogonowski's strong showing can be attributed to a combination of his personal history as a career Air Force veteran, Tsongas' lack of experience, and the Republican's competitiveness on "change" issues. The district went for Kerry by 17% in 2004, but was also carried by Romney for Governor in 2002.

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Comments (6)

And if this is the election... (Below threshold)
COgirl:

And if this is the election result in a safe Dem district, you have to wonder about the 2008 election. Congress has done nothing under Dem "leadership".

Jim,A couple days ... (Below threshold)
ReadyFirst:

Jim,

A couple days ago Michael Barone had an article in RCP talking about this election as a barometer going into 2008. Any opinion or word from you or other commentators on how good/bad this result was? Thanks.

Well, found this over on RC... (Below threshold)
ReadyFirst:
Having listened to the Pres... (Below threshold)
COgirl:

Having listened to the President's comments today, I believe that the GOP is seizing the opportunity to start to hammer home the notion that the Dems in power in Congress are doing nothing. You have this result and the results of polls that have the job approval rating of Congress lower than that of Bush. I think it's a trend the Dems should be worried about.

My 2 cents worth.

I'm not sure this is entire... (Below threshold)
Andy:

I'm not sure this is entirely meaningful, though I do think it reflects the fact that the public is just as anti-Washington as it is anti-Republican (Democrats still beat Republicans in generic polling). Ogonowski was able to paint Tsongas as Washington and, with a strong bio, was appealing to independent voters.
I think it does prove that 2008 won't be a wave election. If Dems succeed at the Senate level, which I think they will, it's because they have solid candidates and the right landscape (more Republicans up and many in blue states).

Quite right, Andy. What it... (Below threshold)

Quite right, Andy. What it means is that a good candidate can compete against a weak one, even if the weak one is in a presumed "safe" district.

The presumption, on the basis of a single midterm election and Presidential approval ratings at the end of a second term, that the trend of the last 40 years has suddenly reversed is likely to prove mistaken.

The Democrats have a strong edge in the Senate next year, with only 12 seats up against 22 held by the GOP. However, the House will be close, as it has been the last several terms, and the White House is up for grabs and will depend more on the candidates than their parties, as befits a divided electorate.




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