So, is Niki Tsongas running for president or for Congress? Apparently her handlers have instructed her to join the presidential field, since being “on message” for her means reciting at every public gathering that the contest for the 5th Congressional District in Massachusetts has morphed into “a referendum on the presidency of George W. Bush.”
There were, of course, two referendums on George W. Bush, and he won both of them. But neither the election on Oct. 16, nor the presidential election next fall, involve him.
And even if one or both of them did, the Tsongas team might want to think their verbal bumper sticker over. It is true that President Bush is unpopular. His poll ratings are low. But he is measurably more popular than, uh, Congress. Maybe they should concern themselves with that.
