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."

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.

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.

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.

Several candidates in the Fifth Congressional District race are to gather tomorrow evening. Only their minds this time will not be on high-minded policy or in-depth position papers. The competition will instead be over who can manage to take a skinny yellow bat and slam an eight-holed plastic ball the 60 feet necessary for a home run.

At least three candidates are scheduled to take to Alumni Field in Lowell around 7:30 p.m., responding to a wiffle ball challenge brought by Independent candidate Patrick Murphy. Confirmed to play so far are Democrats Jamie Eldridge and Niki Tsongas, according to Patrick's campaign. Jim Ogonowski declined to play, and they're still awaiting word from the other candidates.

Further escalating a rivalry that's been brewing for weeks, Niki Tsongas tonight called on Eileen Donoghue to take down a TV ad that her campaign released today, saying it was "deliberately misleading" to voters in the Fifth Congressional District who head to the polls in one week.

The 30-second Donoghue spot seeks to compare her directly with Tsongas, with the narrator at one point asking, "Which candidate has actually represented people for over a decade? Eileen Donoghue," as Tsongas's image fades from the screen. It also asks, "Which candidate has said she will vote to end the war? Eileen Donoghue," as Tsongas's image again fades away.

Tsongas tonight called that portion misleading, saying that she has said repeatedly that she would vote to end the war. The Tsongas campaign supplied 21 instances, from Feb. 8 to Aug. 23, when she spoke against the war, which has been the issue voters are most concerned over.

"For Eileen Donoghue and her campaign to in any way imply that she would vote to end the war and I would not is an intentional misrepresentation of the facts and it is unfair to other candidates in this race who have taken similar positions," Tsongas said. "It is clearly designed to mislead voters and the Donoghue campaign should immediately remove it from the airwaves."

The Donoghue campaign has not posted its ad online, but here is a transcript:

Question: Which candidate has experience working with government at all levels and has actually represented people for over a decade? Eileen Donoghue

And, which candidate has said that she will vote to end the war, and has a specific plan to take care of our veterans? Eileen Donoghue

And that's why both the Lowell Sun and Eagle Tribune have chosen to endorse Eileen Donoghue calling her the best choice to represent us in Congress.

I'm Eileen Donoghue and I approve this message.

In the Fifth Congressional District race, the two-candidate Republican primary has not been nearly as contested as the five-candidate Democratic primary. So it doesn't come as a huge surprise that the two largest local newspapers in the district have endorsed Jim Ogonowski on the Republican side. The Lowell Sun endorsed him on Tuesday, and the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune weighed in today.

It wasn't necessarily a ringing endorsement (it said "Ogonowski's inexperience would be a liability in the general election," and noted that he and his staff "can be rough around the edges and, at times, an irritant"), but it said he would be better against the Democrats than his opponent, Thomas P. Tierney, who is running for the seat for the fifth time and currently has $1,130 in his campaign account.

"He is the candidate who will contrast most clearly with the Democratic nominee and give us an interesting congressional race in October," the editorial says in favor of Ogonowski.

Jim Ogonowski, one of two Republicans vying for the 5th district seat, got some ink this week in the New York Sun.

The story retells the story of Ogonowski's brother, John, one of the pilots of American Flight 11, which was hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. It also says that his candidacy "could be a bellwether for what traction, if any, Republican candidates have at a time when the popularity of President Bush is so low, particularly in the Northeast."

Read the story here.

On Wednesday, four of the five Democratic candidates in the 5th district race -- Lowell City Councilor Eileen Donoghue, Niki Tsongas, and state representatives Jamie Eldridge and Barry Finegold -- will meet at a so-called “progressive issue” debate at the Wetherbee Middle School in Lawrence.

During the debate, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., the candidate will be asked their positions on civil rights, economic justice, education, environmental protection, reproductive rights and workers’ rights. The debate is sponsored by Mass Alliance and will be hosted by Emily Rooney, the host of “Greater Boston,” a nightly news show on WGBH-TV.

All five Democratic candidates, including state Representative James Miceli, have accepted an invitation to participate in an hour-long debate on Aug. 9, to be televised live on New England Cable News at 7 p.m.

The League of Women Voters has also scheduled two debates, Aug. 21 in Acton and Aug. 23 in Andover.

The candidates are vying with two Republicans, an Independent and a Constitution Party candidate for the 5th district seat vacated by Marty Meehan, who resigned to become chancellor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

The primary is scheduled for Sept. 4 and the general election Oct. 16.

Local luminaries, officials and public employees continue to line up behind candidates in the crowded race for Marty Meehan's US House seat.

Last week, state Representative Jamie Eldridge -- one of five Dems in the race -- announced support from four firefighters unions -- the locals in Acton, Devens, and Concord and the Massachusetts Call and Fire Fighters Association.

On Tuesday, Democratic state Representative Barry Finegold won the support of Lawrence Police Chief John Romero, who said the Andover lawmaker "was always the first one to reach out and address the needs of our community."

And on Wednesday, Democrat Niki Tsongas won endorsements from state Senator Susan Tucker and Representatives David Torrisi and Barbara L'Italien.

There are also two Republicans in the race for the 5th district seat, an Independent and a Constitution Party candidate. The primary is Sept. 4 and the general election Oct. 16.

(If we've forgotten any recent endorsements, please let us know.)

With Massachusetts facing another decline in homeland security grants, Republican Jim Ogonowski today unveiled a detailed plan to ensure government readiness.

He is one of two Republicans vying to fill the 5th district congressional seat recently vacated by Martin T. Meehan, the new chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

In the plan, Ogonowski emphasizes the need for better communication between emergency management officials at different levels of government, to develop a nationwide public safety broadband network, and to improve the intelligence system to identify the risks of attacks on American soil.

For details on the plan, go here.

There also five Democrats in the race, an Independent, and a Constitution Party candidate. The primary is Sept. 4 and the general election is Oct. 16.

Former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger announced his support for Niki Tsongas today in the race to replace Martin T. Meehan in the 5th congressional district.

Harshbarger, who also served as Middlesex district attorney, highlighted Tsongas' commitment to public safety and their long friendship.

"The reason I am very glad to support Niki is very simple. I've known her a very long time. She has prepared her entire life to play this role: to bring this perspective, the leadership, the understanding of this community, of how government works and of working together," Harshbarger said, according to a statement released by the Tsongas campaign.

Tsongas, the widow of late US Senator Paul Tsongas, has also been endorsed by US Representative Barney Frank.

According to a recent poll commissioned by one of Tsongas' Democratic contenders -- Lowell City Councilor Eileen Donoghue -- Tsongas is leading the five-member Democratic field with support from 25.7 percent of voters. Donoghue was in second with 16.8 percent. Twenty-nine percent remained undecided.

The primary is Sept. 4 and the general election is Oct. 16. Two Republicans are also vying for the seat, as well as an ndependent and a Constitution Party candidate.

The endorsements in the Fifth congressional district race continue to roll in.

Lowell City Councilor Eileen Donoghue announced today that Methuen Mayor William Manzi, Methuen state Representative Linda Dean Campbell, and two city councilors are in her court. Methuen's state senator, Steven Baddour, had already endorsed her.

Last week, the Sudbury firefighters union threw their weight behind state Representative Barry Finegold of Andover, citing his support for more funding for fire and police departments.

And Niki Tsongas won support from Women's Action for New Directions, or WAND, which describes itself as an organization that "empowers women to act politically to reduce violence and militarism." The national group cited Tsongas' sensible budget priorities.

The primary in the race to replace US Congressman Martin T. Meehan is the day after Labor Day, Sept. 4.

State Representative Barry Finegold, one of the Democratic candidates in the race to replace US Representative Martin Meehan, is getting some help from an unlikely source: one of his opponents.

Finegold is currently in a spat with Niki Tsongas, the presumptive Democratic frontrunner, and EMILY's List, the national pro-choice organization that has endorsed her, over whether or not Finegold is indeed a supporter of abortion rights.

Today, another Democrat in the race -- state Representative Jamie Eldridge -- entered the fray, castigating EMILY's List and Tsongas for "misrepresenting" Finegold's position.

"I am disappointed to learn that an organization supporting Niki Tsongas sent a fundraising email across the country specifically designed to mislead its members and misrepresent the position of Barry Finegold," Eldridge wrote. "I am even more disappointed the Tsongas campaign has refused to renounce the tactic and distance itself from the organization."

The issue first arose during a debate last week, when Eldridge challenged Finegold on his position on abortion rights. He pointed to Eldridge's co-sponsorship of a bill that would require a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion.

Finegold has said the listing of his name on that legislation was the result of a legislative glitch.

Tsongas has not asked EMILY's List to retract its email, but issued a statement today saying that she takes Finegold "at his word."

“I am proud to have earned the support of EMILY’s List, one of the largest pro-choice organizations in the country that supports Democratic candidates," she said. "The majority of the EMILY’s List email highlights my consistent support of a woman’s right to choose, and the other positions I’ve advocated on this campaign. Mr. Finegold said this was a mistake and I take him at his word, and I have communicated this to EMILY’s List.”

As evidence that the 5th congressional race is starting to garner national attention, CNN came to Dracut last week to talk with Republican candidate Jim Ogonowski, who was interviewed on his farm with a green tractor in the background.

The 90-second segment, which was on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, largely focused on his personal story -- his brother piloted one of the planes that was flown into the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001 – and handicapped his chances in the race.

“This district is blue as blue can be,” said David King, professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. “A Republican has virtually no chance at all, unless there is a perfect alignment of the stars.”

Those last comments have stirred a good amount of online chatter (here, and here)

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

If Jim Ogonowski suddenly starts appearing glowingly on WBZ-TV, we may have an inclination why.

Jon Keller, the esteemed political commentator, posted an entry on his blog late last night saying that his oldest son was now working for Ogonowski, a Republican candidate for the 5th Congressional seat.

Keller said his son Barney (who he notes is not named after the Democratic congressman from Newton) secured the job “without my knowledge or assistance.” “I wish him well,” he wrote. “And if I get as much inside information out of him about the campaign as I got from him about what he was doing during his high school years, I’ll be left completely in the dark.”