Tsongas runs for her city

LOWELL -- Niki Tsongas is finally ready.

For years, the widow of Paul Tsongas, the former US senator and presidential candidate, has been regarded as a potentially formidable candidate herself. She was a tireless campaigner on her husband's behalf and toyed with runs for lieutenant governor in both 2002 and 2006, before deciding to pass.

With the impending departure from Congress of Representative Martin T. Meehan, the incoming chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, the opportunity she really wanted has presented itself.

"In truth, it wasn't the right moment, or the right office, or the right time in terms of where we were as a family," she said. "In this instance, it feels very authentic. My life has been made here. Everything I've done sort of weaves its way into the Merrimack Valley and throughout the congressional district."

So Tsongas, 60, has left Charlestown to move into a converted mill building here and launch her first run for office.

"I know through Paul -- I know this sounds a little highfalutin' -- the great power and purpose of this office," Tsongas said. "You see what's possible if you make a commitment to using it to affect communities and address national issues."

Tsongas has spent the past decade working as director of external affairs at Middlesex Community College in Lowell. She has also been involved in an array of civic organizations, including the commission that manages the Paul E. Tsongas Arena, and has sat on corporate boards. "I think I have a set of experiences that are unique, relevant, and give me a different viewpoint," she said.

The race to replace Meehan instantly drew a field of serious contenders for the state's first open congressional seat in six years. The field includes three state representatives, the Middlesex County sheriff, and a Lowell city councilor who is a former mayor.

The timetable for the race is unclear, though a September primary seems likely. The date won't be set until Meehan resigns from Congress. One certainty is that the race will cost a boatload of money, $1.5 million through the primary, by some estimates.

The other is that whoever wins will have to earn it. Tsongas feels passionately about the Iraq war and global warming, but admits that this race is unlikely to boil down to such broad issues.

"My position on the war is important, but when I go to Lawrence and I go to Methuen, [voters ask] what you can do on those infrastructure issues."

In a city the size of Lowell, you don't have to go far to run into Paul Tsongas's influence. In the space of just a few blocks from Niki Tsongas's home, one passes both the Tsongas Arena and the old Boott Cotton Mill, now renovated, as office space and condos. It was there that Paul Tsongas launched his quixotic bid for president, arguing that future generations would suffer unless government became more fiscally responsible.

"Paul's candidacy was rare, in that he was not diminished by losing at all," Tsongas said. "He helped set the agenda for President Clinton's approach to the deficit."

Her campaign, even in its infancy, has been a chance to reflect on his legacy. "As I've gone around and reconnected with people, there's a great reservoir of affection and respect for him," Tsongas said. "And it's not just because they liked him. It's because they appreciate the same thing I feel as I'm doing this: his commitment to making a difference, whether it was at the national level or the local level."

Paul Tsongas was known for his deep connection to Lowell. When she married him, Niki Tsongas was an Air Force brat, a woman who grew up on three continents and had never seen an old mill town until he took her to the Merrimack Valley to meet the family. She, too, would come to embrace Lowell, a city that embraced her as well.

"To me, it was all new," she said. "But it's the only hometown I've ever had. It's a real community."

Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com.