Tsongas, Ogonowski make last dash

In an 11th-hour push before tomorrow's special election, Republican Jim Ogonowski and Democrat Niki Tsongas raced through the Fifth Congressional District during the weekend, while their volunteers phoned thousands of voters and knocked on numerous doors.

In a race between two candidates who have never held elected office, Tsongas and Ogonowski each reiterated their vow to bring change to Washington through the congressional seat vacated by former representative Martin T. Meehan, who is now chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

Tsongas, who wants to set a timetable to withdraw US forces from Iraq, continued to call her campaign a referendum on an unpopular war and president. Ogonowski, a Dracut hay farmer, again pitched himself as a nonpartisan everyman who wants to change "politics as usual."

The differences they've been touting were reflected in their latest literature and personal messages. Tsongas's new palm cards read, "This Tuesday, October 16th, the stakes are high: Change course in Iraq and here at home." Ogonowski's newest door-hangers picture Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," and contain messages about his desire to restore government to the people.

Over the weekend, though, reminding people of the election date - in mid-October, in an odd year - seemed as important as anything.

"Appreciate your vote Tuesday," Ogonowski said over and over, gripping hands and clapping backs yesterday morning at ML Shaw's Country Kitchen in Dracut. "Get the word out. Every vote matters."

In similar fashion, Tsongas shook hands up and down the ticket line before the Dracut-Billerica high school football game Friday night, in one of the first of more than a dozen announced weekend stops. "How are you? Niki Tsongas, running for Congress," she said, greeting fans dressed in rival green or blue. "Hope I earn your vote this Tuesday."

Ogonowski tried to hit every city and town in a district that stretches from the Merrimack Valley to Wayland and out to Lancaster. Driving in his Buick, usually with a single aide, Ogonowski started at Laudi's Breakfast House in Dracut Saturday at 6 a.m. and made 76 stops on a two-day "Midnight Ride" tour. It included a stop late Saturday night to greet passengers on the last commuter rail from Boston to Lowell, and a post-midnight visit to the Lowell police and fire headquarters.

Ogonowski, 50, has played up his biography as a farmer and retired Air Force and Air National Guard officer, details he says make him a candidate the Founding Fathers might have envisioned. His campaign said this tour was in "the tradition of Paul Revere" - though Ogonowski, unlike Revere, made it all the way to Concord. He ended there last night by picking up the phone for a conference call with voters.

Tsongas, 61, made fewer stops but spent more time at each and aimed for concentrated groups, hitting gatherings such as the Timony Grammar School Fall Festival in Methuen, the West Acton Oktoberfest, and the Chinese Music and Dance Night at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School. Each day, she gave a pep talk to volunteers at her Lowell headquarters. She also went door-knocking in West Concord yesterday, where Governor Deval Patrick campaigned alongside her. Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray made calls from Tsongas's office.

"The last 48 to 72 hours of a campaign are really where a lot of people start to focus and pay attention," Murray told other volunteers at headquarters. "Now's the time to coffee up and get out there and get after it."

A Tsongas spokeswoman said 700 people signed up to help the campaign knock on 30,000 doors and make 80,000 calls Saturday and yesterday. An Ogonowski spokeswoman said 250 people signed up to help knock on 75,000 doors and make 95,000 calls from Friday through tomorrow.

Each campaign also has dropped a flurry of literature in the mail and unleashed a number of commercials. Outside organizations have pitched in for Tsongas, with EMILY's List - an organization that backs female candidates who support abortion rights - spending $125,000 on radio ads, and the political arm of the Service Employees International Union spending $208,000 for TV ads.

The ads focus on her desire to end the war and her backing of the bill to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which President Bush vetoed earlier this month. The winner of tomorrow's election could be certified and sworn in to office in time to vote with the House later this week on the president's veto. Tsongas has pledged to vote to override the veto, while Ogonowski has not said what he would do.

"You know where I stand on this," Tsongas said yesterday at a ham-and-bean luncheon for seniors hosted by the Methuen Democratic Committee. "You will always know where I stand on the issues we face as a country."

Ogonowski has said he supports expanding children's health insurance but believes the S-CHIP bill might benefit illegal immigrants. He has made immigration enforcement - including the construction of a border fence - the top issue of his campaign and has blasted Tsongas's plans as "amnesty." A new Ogonowski radio ad slated to air today focuses on Tsongas's support for allowing undocumented immigrants to earn citizenship, apply for driver's licenses, and receive in-state college tuition. It calls her position "truly a radical and dangerous one."

At a race-walk to support Elder Services in Lawrence yesterday, Ogonowski extended his hand to a group of women, asking them for their support.

"I knew your brother - and you've got my vote," said Ida Leone of Methuen, referring to John Ogonowski, an American Airlines captain who was killed when his plane was hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. "Go get 'em!"

At the Methuen Senior Activity Center, Tsongas stopped to talk with a group of retired women who were upset about the war. "The troops should come home," Sue Iacono said.

Tsongas, a dean at Middlesex Community College in Lowell, told them the cost of the war had gone from $13 million to $15 million an hour during her campaign.

"We have to change direction," she said. And then: "I hope you vote on Tuesday."

Tomorrow's ballot includes three other candidates: the Constitution Party's Kevin Thompson, a religious school principal from Brockton; and independent candidates Patrick Murphy, a Lowell bricklayer, and Kurt Hayes, a Boxborough businessman.