Early this morning Niki Tsongas learned that her sister Suzanne Sauvage passed away unexpectedly in her sleep at her home in New York. Tsongas will be suspending her personal campaign activities until further notice.

"All of us are very saddened to learn of the passing of Niki’s sister Suzy," Tsongas spokeswoman Katie Elbert said in a statement. "Our deepest sympathies are with Niki and her family during this difficult time."

While Tsongas herself won't be participating in campaign events, previously scheduled events will continue to take place. Ellen Murphy Meehan, the campaign chairwoman, will stand in for Tsongas at a Boston fundraising brunch on Sunday with Speaker of House Nancy Pelosi. Campaign volunteers will also proceed with a districtwide canvass tomorrow.

"People form the campaign are standing in for Niki while she takes her personal time," Elbert said. "People volunteering for Niki want to show their support for her."

Her chief opponent, Republican Jim Ogonowski, issued a statement this afternoon: "I want to offer Niki my sincere condolences," he said. "I know how hard it is to lose a sibling unexpectedly and how painful it can be. This is a tough time for the Tsongas and Sauvage families and my heart goes out to them; especially Suzanne's children. I ask everyone to keep Niki and her family in their thoughts and prayers as they go through this difficult time."

Matt Margolis at Hub Politics has picked up an internal strategy memo from the campaign of Republican Jim Ogonowski. The memo crunches the numbers from a recent WBZ-TV poll that showed Ogonowski 10 points behind Democrat Niki Tsongas. No earth-shattering revelations, but if Ogonowski starts honing his bingo skills and walking onto campaign stages to the sounds of Tony Bennett, you'll know why.

Here's the memo:

Results from a recent WBZ Survey-USA poll show momentum and real strength for Jim Ogonowski, candidate for Congress in Massachusetts's 5th District.

Considering that the Tsongas campaign has reportedly spent over $1.3 Million in the race and Jim Ogonowski has only spent $130,000, the Head-to-Head numbers of 51% to 41% indicate momentum and strength for a first-time candidate who has never been a part of partisan politics.

Interestingly, Jim is actually leading in most categories. Three key areas in which he is leading are Seniors, Independents, and voters who disapprove of the job Congress is doing.

In general, Seniors disproportionately vote but in special elections, they account for an even larger portion of the vote.

He does not have a federal campaign account, he has never held elected office, and not one person has joined his "YouTube video campaign" channel.

But in the Fifth Congressional District, you have to give Independent candidate Kurt Hayes credit for creativity, a heavy dose of optimism, and a press release frequency that rivals the major-party candidates, Democrat Niki Tsongas and Republican Jim Ogonowski.

Hayes is a Boxborough businessman who, after growing tired of a partisan Congress, announced his candidacy at Fifer's Day in his home town. He gathered signatures at train stations and municipal dumps. Conventional wisdom says he'll have a tough time entering the field's top tier, but he'll do his best to try and convince you otherwise.

Consider:

* When a WBZ-TV poll showed him with 2 percent, he sent out a titled, "Tsongas and Ogonowski have peaked too soon." "This is not false bravado or delusional thinking," he said in the release.

* Three days later, he put out saying he was leading in a poll of unenrolled voters. The hitch? The poll was done by his campaign, and only included 200 people. "I understand this shift is hard for the media and everyone else to grasp," Hayes said in the release. "It has been 'Republican versus Democrat' for so long, they just don’t know how to cover this."

* On Sept. 6, Republican candidate Jim Ogonowski challenged his chief opponent, Democrat Niki Tsongas, to three debates. Four hours later, Hayes sent out a press release, "Hayes accepts Ogonowski's invitation to participate in debates."

* He also titled recent press release, "Marty Meehan endorses Kurt Hayes for Congress?" because Meehan made statements on TV that Hayes has made before, too.

In a major coup, former President Bill Clinton will be coming to Lowell later this month to campaign with Niki Tsongas, the Democratic nominee in the Fifth Congressional District.

"We're very exited," said Katie Elbert, spokeswoman for Tsongas. "The stakes are high in this election."

Clinton is slated to come to the Lowell Memorial Auditorium on Sept. 30, about two weeks before an election that is starting to get national attention and shaping up to be an interesting battle between Tsongas and Republican Jim Ogonowski.

Elbert said the event would involve a rally, but details on who can and will attend, and if tickets will be sold, have yet to be worked out. She said the campaign reached out to Clinton about a week and a half ago, and he agreed to come.

Clinton and Tsongas go back at least to 1992, when Niki's late husband, Paul Tsongas, vied with Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. Tsongas won the New Hampshire primary, but the gap was narrow enough that Clinton was deemed the "Comeback Kid" and went on to beat Tsongas to win the nomination.

Republican congressional candidate Jim Ogonowski today unleashed rare criticism on fellow Republican John Boehner, saying the House minority leader should apologize for a comment he made recently in a CNN interview.

When asked by Wolf Blitzer how much money should be spend and how long troops should stay in Iraq, Boehner said, "The investment that we're making today will be a small price if we're able to stop al-Qaeda here, if we're able to stabilize the Middle East." Several others, including John Kerry and John McCain, have denounced his comments as minimizing the deaths of US soldiers.

"Your recent comment… was wrong and you owe an apology to our servicemen and women, their families, and the American people," Ogonowski said in a letter to Boehner, a representative from Ohio.

Ogonowski's response is part of a little political gamesmanship between him and his chief rival, Democrat Niki Tsongas. On Saturday, Tsongas called on Ogonowski to denounce Boehner's remarks.

Ogonowski, who recently retired after 28 years in the Air Force and Air National Guard, used the letter today to highlight a theme in his campaign that he is running as a non-partisan outsider.

"Right is right and wrong is wrong," Ogonowksi said. "I do not care who says something like that, Republican or Democrat, I'll call them on the carpet and hold them accountable. We should never let party interfere with doing what is right."

Largely because of last week's poll indicated a closer-than-expected race in the making, the Fifth Congressional District race has started to gain some out-of-state chatter.

Here's the round-up:

W. James Antle III in conservative magazine The American Spectator: "While Republicans are reeling in former strongholds like Virginia and New Hampshire, the Grand Old Party hopes for a pickup in the bluest of states: Massachusetts, the home of Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and Michael Dukakis...The elements for a Republican upset -- an open seat, a somewhat divided Democratic Party after a contentious primary, a large number of independents, a slightly higher level of GOP registration than most Bay State districts, and no presidential or gubernatorial coattails for Tsongas to grab -- may be there, but there are good reasons to be skeptical."

David Weigel, at the libertarian political journal Reason Magazine: "An Ogonowksi victory isn't likely, but it's not impossible, and it would dramatically change the political debate. A proud pro-war Republican will have won by attacking both Bush and the congressional Democrats. Independents will have swung back to the GOP. The Democratic aura of inevitability would be battered, maybe enough to perk up Republican fundraising and keep one or two from retiring. No Republican has flipped a Democratic seat in a special election since Virginia's Michael Randy Forbes in 2001, and no Republican has flipped a seat in New England since Rob Simmons won Connecticut's second district (New London, Norwich) in 2000."

Aaron Blake at the DC-based newspaper The Hill: "A new poll suggests a Republican congressman from Massachusetts is a real possibility."

Democrat Niki Tsongas and Republican Jim Ogonowski announced today that have agreed to participate in three debates prior to the Oct. 16 general election in the Fifth Congressional District. The other three candidates -- independents Patrick Murphy and Kurt Hayes, Constitution Party candidate Kevin Thompson -- will also be invited.

Mark your calendars, here are the dates:

September 25: the candidates will debate on NECN. The debate will be pretaped and will air at 7:00 p.m.

September 27: the candidates will participate in a debate hosted by the League of Women Voters.

October 9: the candidates will participate in a debate co-hosted by the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and the Lowell Sun.

Like bickering siblings who know just how to push each other's buttons, Republican Jim Ogonowski and Democrat Niki Tsongas have been squabbling all afternoon over positions on the war in Iraq.

It started around noon, when Ogonowski sent out a press release suggesting Tsongas was being irresponsible by supporting existing legislation that would set a 9 month timetable for withdrawal. Ogonowksi, who opposes a timetable, says removing troops quickly would destabilize the region.

Ogonowski also included a line from a Lowell Sun article in July that said Tsongas "acknowledged that withdrawing troops from Iraq would destabilize the country and require the U.S. to maintain enough troops in the region to deal with any al-Qaida presence there and help continue training the Iraqi army."

Tsongas fired back a few hours later with a press release of her own.

"Mr. Ogonowski is twisting the truth," she said. "I have made my position on this issue very clear from day one. I want to bring an end to the war in Iraq and bring our troops home quickly, safely and responsibly. I believe the best and most responsible way to do this is to set a timetable that requires the Iraqi government to step up to the plate and that finally engages the international community to bring about a political solution."

Tsongas then said, "On the other hand, Mr. Ogonowski has continued to march in lockstep with President Bush’s policy on the war."

"Jim Ogonowski’s statement is a deliberate attempt to confuse voters, a political tactic lifted directly from Karl Rove when in 2000 he had President Bush run as 'a uniter, not a divider,'" she continued. "This is not surprising since Mr. Ogonowski attended a two-day National Republican Congressional Committee training school in Washington, DC last May where Karl Rove was prominently featured."

Two hours later, Ogonowski's campaign manager released a statement.

"No matter how loud Ms. Tsongas protests, she can’t hide the fact that she wants to keep some of the troops there indefinitely," said campaign manager Dustin Olson. "To make it worse, she is trying to make people believe that Jim shares her position. Jim wants to bring home all the troops safely and responsibly; that means not leaving any behind in harm’s way. That’s the problem with running a campaign based on sound-bytes."

As Democrat Niki Tsongas made campaign stops today in Lawrence and Lowell, she sought to distinguish her positions on health care and branded chief rival Republican Jim Ogonowski as being "in lockstep with the Bush Administration."

Tsongas supports expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which she said would bring health coverage to 42,000 Massachusetts children.

President Bush has signaled that he would veto the SCHIP legislation, but Tsongas said she would work to override the veto.

"Jim Ogonowski, on the other hand, has made his position clear: he opposes expansion of the SCHIP program," Tsongas said. "For voters who want to see change and progress in Washington, it’s clear it won’t come with Mr. Ogonowski."

Then, without specifically mentioning her late husband's battle with cancer, she said, "I know firsthand the challenges an illness can present to a family and believe that facing that without adequate health insurance is a hardship no family should be forced to endure."

Tsongas is also a member of the board of directors of the Worcester-based Fallon Community Health Plan.

Ogonowski has criticized the SCHIP bill on the grounds that it does not require a driver's license or proof of citizenship to enter the program, which he argues could allow illegal immigrants to enroll.

"I just don't think Niki gets it," Ogonowski said through a spokesman. "It's just another form of amnesty. How can we justify giving money to illegal immigrants with the squalor we have at Walter Reed? There's something that's just fundamentally wrong with that."

Supporters of the bill say it specifically says that it doesn't include funding for illegal immigrants, but they don't want to require potential enrollees to be dissuaded by having to go through the cumbersome process of supplying passports or original birth certificates.

Republican Jim Ogonowski today released a harshly-worded statement on the war in Iraq, saying "the president has completely mishandled the situation."

Ogonowski then called on President Bush to put more demands on the Iraqi government; develop a broader regional coalition to stabilize Iraq; and engage with more diplomatic discussions with countries like Iran and Syria.

He also said the president should solicit the help of three former presidents -- two of the Democrats -- Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.

In criticizing any plans for immediate withdrawal, he took a swipe at Democrat Niki Tsongas, his chief rival in the Fifth Congressional Race.

"I want to bring all the troops home after we complete our mission of a safe, stable Iraq. That's a big difference between Niki Tsongas and myself," he said. "I want to do it the right way, a gradual drawdown that shifts responsibility to the Iraqi government."

Tsongas supports existing legislation that would set a 9 month timetable for withdrawal, which Ogonowksi criticized as not leaving enough troops to stabilize the area.

"Niki's plan is a lot like sending Tom Brady on the field alone to take on the entire Colts defense," said Ogonowski. "Sure he'll make some big plays -- he always does. But one guy standing up against 11 is going to get clobbered. It doesn't make sense for the Pats to do it and it doesn't make sense for America either."

A poll just released by WBZ-TV shows that the race in the Fifth Congressional District is surprisingly close, with Democrat Niki Tsongas up only 10 percent over Republican Jim Ogonowski.

Republicans have been trumpeting the Oct. 16 election as their first chance in years to gain back a congressional seat, but this is the first sign that they are within range and could trigger attention from the national parties.

Fifty-one percent of voters said they would vote for Tsongas if the election were held today, compared with 41 percent for Ogonowski. Independent Kurt Hayes and Constitution Party Keven Thompson each got 2 percent, and Independent Patrick Murphy got 1 percent. Four percent said they were undecided.

The poll, which was conducted by SurveyUSA, comes from a survey of 411 likely voters, interviewed between Sept. 7-9. It has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.

Other nuggets from the poll:

- Tsongas leads by 32 points among women. Ogonowski leads by 13 points among men.

- Tsongas leads by 23 points among the youngest voters. Ogonowski leads by 2 points among the oldest voters.

- Tsongas leads 9:2 among Democrats, who make-up 42 percent of likely voters.

- Ogonowski leads 8:1 among Republicans, who make-up 18 percent of likely voters.

- Just 15% of likely voters in the district approve of the job Congress is doing. Among those voters, Tsongas leads by 24 points. But among the 71 percent of likely voters who do not approve of the job Congress is doing, the candidates tie.

Following General David Petraeus' testimony before Congress today, Fifth Congressional District candidates issued competing statements and engaged in a little tit-for-tat disagreement over the war in Iraq. The candidates have not yet had their first debate, but below, using material from their statements issued this afternoon, is what it might look like when they do.

Democratic nominee Niki Tsongas started off by calling the Petraeus testimony "a small step in the right direction" but in the next breath added that "much more must be done to bring our troops home quickly."

Her Republican opponent, Jim Ogonowski, said Tsongas should hold her fire.

"Let's not politicize the war," Ogonowksi said. "The people of the 5th District want to have the opportunity to hear what the General has to say, absent political rhetoric. There will be plenty of time during this campaign to debate the future of Iraq and the Global War on Terror, but today, we need to let Congress ask the tough questions so we can have the facts. The people of the 5th District deserve an honest conversation, not more political, partisan rhetoric."

"The Bush administration has pursued a failed policy in Iraq and I respectfully disagree with Mr. Ogonowski's position that we should stay in Iraq indefinitely," said Tsongas, who supports existing legislation that would set a 9 month timetable for withdrawal, a stance Ogonowski has called a "cut and run" strategy.

"Like it or not," Tsongas said, "this election will be a referendum on the war in Iraq."

"Iraq is a serious issue that our country faces right now," Ogonowski said. "We have made many mistakes and many politicians have politicized the war for their own interests. War is not a partisan issue."

Tsongas retorted, "I've traveled throughout this entire District over the past seven months and everywhere I've gone, people have told me that they do not want our servicemen and women serving as referees in a civil war, they want them brought home. The message I've heard has been loud and clear. People in this District want change, and I would like to go to Washington to help carry this message to the White House."

"The American people are demanding answers and I ask the United States Congress to ask tough questions," Ogonowksi said. "But, political grandstanding and partisan bickering will not bring our troops home faster or protect America from its enemies."

Preparations for the Boston City Council's primaries on Sept. 25 have been less than enthralling. There's a fundraiser here, some sign holding there, but so far there has been little excitement. And because the city council voted not to have a preliminary election for the at-large seats, there are only two districts where there are enough candidates to hold a September election and narrow the field.

On that front, there are two pieces of news to report:

In the District 9 race, where there is a crowded six-candidate field, Tim Schofield today announced the endorsement of At-large City Councilor Sam Yoon, the city's first Asian-American councilor.

In the less crowded three-candidate race in District 7, Carlos Henriquez, a young upstart from Roxbury, today issued a statement taking to task his chief opponent Chuck Turner, who has represented the district since 2000.

"I am fed up with reading the negative headlines about my community," Henriquez said. "I am fed up with mourning the loss of our youth instead of celebrating their successes. I have had enough of seeing my neighborhood street and parks covered in trash. I have had enough of our leaders doing nothing about it."

Then, without referencing Turner by name, he said, "I am asking residents to choose whether they want a councilor who works hands-on with pastors, community groups, and youth to stop the war in our streets, or one fighting to stop the war in Iraq. I am asking them to choose whether they want a councilor who is visible day to day in the community or one that is only seen during an election year."

Illustrating a sticky political situation over a sensitive day, Democrat Niki Tsongas today weighed in for the first time on the simmering controversy over whether her chief opponent in the Fifth Congressional District race, Republican Jim Ogonowski, should speak at Tuesday's State House ceremony commemorating the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Ogonowski, whose brother was killed in the attacks and who spoke at the ceremony the past four years, was not asked to come back this year. However, added to the program as the keynote speaker was Martin Meehan, a former US representative whose wife is chairing Democrat Niki Tsongas's campaign against Ogonowski.

"I was surprised to learn that Jim Ogonowski was not invited to speak in Tuesday’s ceremony at the State House honoring those lost on September 11, 2001, and I think he should be invited to participate in the ceremony as he has in previous years," Tsongas said this afternoon in a statement. "The Ogonowski family suffered a tremendous loss, and his is an important voice on this day of remembrance."

Republican Jim Ogonowski today released the first television ad of the general election in the Fifth Congressional District. The spot, called "Broken Congress," continues his rhetoric of attacking Washington as being "too controlled by special interests and partisan politicians."

The ad starts with a flurry of music and quickly flashing images of two Democrats -- John Murtha and Nancy Pelosi -- and two Republicans -- Randy Cunningham and Tom DeLay. A deep-voiced narrator says "Congress is broken. The answer? Jim Ogonowski." The music then changes to a quiet piano and Ogonowski is pictured on a tractor and in a military uniform. It has no direct reference to his chief opponent, Niki Tsongas, but it ends saying, "Another politician won't change things. Jim Ogonowski will."

Democrat Eileen Donoghue called chief rival Niki Tsongas at 9:35 p.m. to concede the primary in the Fifth Congressional District. Republican Jim Ogonowski also prevailed tonight.

With 70 percent of precincts reporting, here's the breakdown:

Democrats
Niki Tsongas -- 37 percent
Eileen Donoghue -- 26 percent
James Eldridge -- 17 percent
Barry Finegold -- 16 percent
James Miceli -- 4 percent

Republicans
Jim Ogonowski -- 89 percent
Thomas Tierney -- 11 percent

Republican Jim Ogonowski started the morning at Dunkin' Donuts in Lowell, Dream Diner in Tyngsborough, and Skips Restaurant in Chelmsford. Democrat Niki Tsongas has imported from New Hampshire campaign volunteers from Barack Obama's presidential campaign to hold signs for her throughout the district.

Throughout the Fifth Congressional District, campaign volunteers today have been standing at intersections, street corners. They are imploring people to vote for the person on their sign, but they really just want people to vote.

Poll workers and election observers say turnout has been low for the special election held the day after Labor Day.

"It's been very light," said Brian McNiff, spokesman for the Secretary of State's office.

"Well, we have not been over-loaded," said Nelson Powers, a warden at the Hunt Recreation Center in Concord, where about 40 voters checked their ballots over an hour this morning. By noon, about 10 percent of the 2,000 voters in the precinct had cast a ballot.

Of nearly a dozen interviewed, few cited any overriding issue that drove them to the polls. Several apologized for their limited knowledge about the race, saying they took advice from friends on who to cast their vote for.

"I don't know," said one man, who voted for Tsongas. "I've seem more of her signs than the others."

In the primary, there are five Democrats -- Tsongas, Eileen Donoghue, Jamie Eldirdge, Barry Finegold, and Jim Miceli -- and two Republicans -- Ogonowski and Thomas Tierney. They are vying to replace former US representative Martin T. Meehan, who stepped down after 14-plus years in Congress to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

"We've done as much as we can do," Tsongas said as she stood with about a dozen supporters on a street corner in Concord. "Now, it's up to the voters."

Polls close tonight at 8.

Five days before voters head to the polls, Democratic candidate Eileen Donoghue appears to be closing the gap with front-runner Niki Tsongas, according to a WBZ-TV poll that was released last night.

Tsongas still has a double digit lead, with 40 percent of likely voters saying they would check the box for her if the vote was today. But Donoghue has gained 13 points since the previous poll was taken two weeks ago and now has 29 percent of the vote.

Among voters who identified themselves as liberal, Tsongas is down 12 points from two weeks ago, while Donoghue is up 22 points.

The poll, which was done for the TV station by SurveyUSA, was conducted Monday through Wednesday and includes 459 likely voters. It has a margin of error of 4.7 percent.

A second poll, which included 146 likely voters, found that Jim Ogonowski has a dominant lead in the Republican primary, with 72 percent saying they would vote for Ogonowski and 12 percent saying they would vote for his opponent, Thomas Tierney.

Here's the full rundown of the Democrats, and how they've shifted:

WBZ-TV Poll (Aug 27-29)
Niki Tsongas - 40%
Eileen Donoghue - 29%
Jamie Eldridge - 15%
Barry Finegold - 9%
Jim Miceli - 3%

WBZ-TV Poll (Aug 11-13)
Niki Tsongas - 39%
Eileen Donoghue - 16%
Barry Finegold - 14%
Jamie Eldridge - 13%
Jim Miceli - 4%

After a day on the campaign trail, three candidates in the Fifth Congressional District race met under the lights last night on a ballfield in Lowell. Underscoring the mission? To find out, through a game of wiffle ball, who might best represent the Massachusetts delegation in the annual Congressional Baseball Game.

In the "primary" game, Democrats Eileen Donoghue and Jamie Eldridge faced off. Donoghue struck Eldridge out on three pitches, and tossed what some are reporting to be a rare wiffle ball curve (Donoghue somehow managed to avoid batting, so we'll never know if she has a Tom Glavine-like mastery of both the mound and the batter's box).

Independent candidate Patrick Murphy started the championship game off by clearing the first pitch over the center field wall. But it wasn't enough, and they lost 4-2 in a game that gave Donoghue bragging rights as champion of the tourney and left the Murphy campaign crying foul, tossing accusations that certain teams were weighting their bats and perhaps using other performance enhancing materials.

"For decorum, I didn't have them pee in a cup," the Murphy campaign wrote on its blog. "But I have my doubts."

Several who on the campaign trail have questioned Niki Tsongas's commitment to the district are now also questioning her commitment to the game of wiffle ball. She initially said she would play, but was a no-show at the game last night.

In an effort to stake out a position above the fray, Democratic candidate Barry Finegold has been pleading with his opponents to sign a pledge agreeing to not attack one another in the Fifth Congressional District race.

Niki Tsongas and Jim Miceli have signed the pledge, but Jamie Eldridge and Eilieen Donoghue have declined, calling it a campaign gimmick coming a week before the primary.

Now, Finegold is launching a "Hit Piece Hotline" that voters can call in and report negative attack ads, mailings, or other smear tactics. Only one problem. There's no phone number listed for that hotline, either on the campaign website or in the press release they sent out championing it.