Rivals trade jabs over company they keep

For weeks, Republican farmer and Air Force veteran Jim Ogonowski has pounded a steady theme against Democrat Niki Tsongas, calling the wife of the late former senator Paul Tsongas a Washington insider who represents politics as usual. For weeks, Niki Tsongas ignored him.

Now, with Ogonowski looking unexpectedly strong in the Fifth Congressional District special election, Tsongas is returning fire.

Tsongas's campaign described Ogonowski yesterday as part of the "extreme right wing" and asserted that he's "not who he says he is." In statements from her campaign office, Tsongas accused him of trying to conceal support from Republicans in Washington, including former White House adviser Karl Rove.

Ogonowski's camp, which has refused to discuss whether he got campaign advice from Rove, is calling the new Tsongas script "typical Washington BS."

The exchanges are increasing in rancor with just two weeks to go before the special election to replace Martin T. Meehan, the Democrat who left Congress to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

Political observers in Massachusetts and Washington say Tsongas has the edge in the district after winning a tough primary race, but that she is facing a surprisingly strong challenge from Ogonowski. Democrats, who outnumber registered Republicans in the district 2 to 1, have held the seat since Paul Tsongas was first elected to the US House in 1974.

Ogonowski's campaign is energizing some voters who accuse Nikki Tsongas of opportunism for moving from Charlestown to a rented apartment in Lowell to make her run. Prior to moving to Charlestown, she had resided in the district for 30 years.

While Tsongas has brought House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Massachusetts and on Sunday brought Bill Clinton to Lowell for a rally, Ogonowski is portraying himself as a scrappy, independent underdog. That appealed to some voters yesterday morning at the Four Sisters Owl Diner, a Lowell landmark with omelettes named for local streets and no shortage of political banter.

"His interests are going to be local, and hers will be national," said Frank King, 64, who runs a Lowell septic business and supports Ogonowski. Jerry Largay, 67, a Lowell retiree, called Ogonowski a "blue-collar worker who can relate to anyone."

But those at the diner who see Tsongas's experience as an asset are frustrated by Ogonowski's persistent message.

Ogonowski "doesn't know anybody" said Don Giuffrida, 69, of Lowell. "When he gets to Washington, who's he going to talk to? How is he going to make any laws that benefit people in this area?"

Political analysts in and out of the district agree that Ogonowski's campaign has been effective and could make the race close.

"It's clear Ogonowski's got the better message," said David King, a lecturer in public policy at Harvard who chairs an orientation program at the Kennedy School of Government for new members of Congress. He said Tsongas seemed to be running the same campaign Democrats tried in 2006, focus on the president and the Iraq war, but that she should be concentrating more on the district.

"To think of a special election in 2007 as linked to the nationalization of the congressional campaigns in 2006 is, I think, lunacy," King said. "This race is about the Fifth Congressional District, not the Fifth Regiment in Iraq."

Mimi Parseghian, a blogger for LeftInLowell.com, said Democratic excitement has dissipated since Tsongas won a hard-fought five-way primary last month. She thinks voters overall are paying limited attention and that they know more about Ogonowski's military history, his farm, and his brother - one of the pilots hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001 - than his political views.

"The image he's projecting is, 'I'm one of you.' And he is one of us," Parseghian said. "But his views, they are nothing like Marty Meehan. I think people have to understand that."

Tsongas spokeswoman Katie Elbert said Ogonowski attended Republican campaign training in May that featured Karl Rove. She said Ogonowski's campaign manager, Dustin Olson, interned in the Bush White House under former political director Ken Mehlman. "The advice and counsel he's seeking are from people who couldn't be tied closer to the policies of the Republican Party," Elbert said.

Ogonowski, who declared his candidacy in April, attended a May campaign-training seminar held in Washington by the National Republican Congressional Committee, the political committee that works to elect Republicans to the House by providing financial aid, research assistance, and other help to candidates. House minority leader John Boehner, Rove, and other Republicans addressed the group, which consisted mainly of candidates lining up to run in 2008, according to news accounts.

Olson said Ogonowski went to the campaign school to learn basics, like how to set up a campaign account and office and how to print campaign materials.

The GOP political committee declined to comment.