Nothing better confirms a candidate’s front-runner status than when he or she becomes the target of everyone else in the race.
Various polls have shown Niki Tsongas, who has the best name given there are no Kennedys running for the 5th District congressional seat, leading the Democratic field. And her opponents seemed to confirm that fact during Wednesday’s forum at the Wetherbee Middle School in Lawrence.
According to Eagle-Tribune Statehouse reporter Ed Mason’s report all the other candidates save for Andover Rep. Barry Finegold had something negative to say about Tsongas.
As might be expected from the candidate who considers herself in second place and gaining, Lowell City Councilor Eileen Donahue Donoghue was the most aggressive, questioning Tsongas’ role in the failed effort to build a performing arts center at Middlesex Community College where she is a dean.
Freshman state Rep. Linda Dean Campell Campbell, D-Methuen, confirmed during a meeting with the Eagle-Tribune editorial board this week that she is backing Donahue’s Donoghue’s candidacy. Campell Campbell said she believes that Donahue Donoghue, with her council experience, has a better understanding of the needs of urban communities like hers than do the other candidates.
