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The Tsongas camp may be counting the hours until Jim Ogonowski states whether he would vote to override President Bush’s veto of the SCHIP expansion bill, but many 5th District voters are no doubt counting the days — now down to four — until the campaign for Marty Meehan’s seat is over.
If she wins Tuesday, as appears likely, Tsongas’ constituents ought to hope her policy advisers in Washington are as good as the people who consulted on her campaign here. This has been a model effort from the moment the wife of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Tsongas announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination right after Marty Meehan said he would be stepping down to take the helm at UMass Lowell.
Ogonowski is still hoping there are more people outraged over the idea of granting amnesty to illegal immigrants than want an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. But don’t bet on it.
The fact that Tsongas has been flogging the Iraq issue in her TV ads tells you that remains the Democrats’ best card. And the award of the Nobel Peace Prize this morning to former vice president Al Gore – who’s been outspoken in his opposition to the Bush administration’s conduct of the war — won’t hurt.