Hopefuls crowd field in race to replace Meehan

LOWELL -- In 1995, a former congressman and onetime presidential front-runner asked Eileen Donoghue to run for a City Council seat in Lowell.

She did, and she won.

Donoghue is now running for the seat that man held in Congress. And she's running against that man's widow, Niki Tsongas.

The rivals, who are scheduled to join three other Democrats at the campaign's first formal debate tonight, are part of a nine-member field vying for the Fifth District seat that US Representative Martin T. Meehan is abandoning to become the chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

As soon as the first wisp of a rumor escaped about Meehan's interest in academia, hopefuls began lining up their teams for the state's first congressional opening in six years. And with the primary scheduled for the day after Labor Day, they are working furiously to cap ture the electorate's attention at a time when voters are usually focused more on beaches than the ballot box.

Tsongas, who launched her campaign with a 24-hour tour of the district on a biodiesel bus, went so far as to purchase advertising from Google so that her name and a link to her website pop up in an Internet search for all of her Democratic competitors. Donoghue did the same thing several weeks later.

Barry Finegold, a six-term Democratic state representative from Andover, launched a tour of all 29 communities in the district and started a blog on his website, posting entries such as, "Lunch at Sal's here in Chelmsford was great -- one of the best pizza joints around," and, "Despite the rain, we're having a great day on the road. "

"I have the most members on Facebook than any of the other candidates," says Jamie Eldridge, a Democratic state representative from Acton, who earlier this month announced several local endorsements by having them post video messages on YouTube.

Nearly all of the candidathave set up pages on MySpace and Facebook. Playing in the background on Tsongas's MySpace page is a playlist of songs, including Melissa Etheridge's "I Run for Life," U2's "Beautiful Day," and The Temptations' "Get Ready."

What at first appeared to be a race that would be decided by the Democratic primary became a solid two-party affair in April, when Republican Jim Ogonowski, whose brother piloted one of the planes that was flown into the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, entered the race. His announcement received national attention and led several other Republicans to withdraw. Thomas P. Tierney, a Framingham Republican who lost to Meehan in 2004, announced he would also join the fray several weeks later.

The Fifth District includes the lunch pail Democrats of Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill and liberals in the Boston suburbs of Concord, Wayland, and Sudbury. While the seat has been held by Democrats since Paul Tsongas -- a future senator and presidential candidate -- took the seat in 1975, it has a Republican past and is considered one of the districts that could potentially break the Democratic grip on the Massachusetts congressional delegation.

"With the right candidate, this is a district a Republican can and will win," said Ogonowski, who recently retired from the Air Force.

Tsongas, the perceived front-runner, has been working to wrap up a number of endorsements, including EMILY's List and two congressmen who formerly held the seat. Her late husband held the seat until 1979.

Tsongas also has the backing of Meehan's wife, Ellen Murphy, who is serving as her campaign chairwoman, and she nabbed the race's first congressional endorsement, from US Representative Barney Frank, a Newton Democrat.

In the handful of candidate forums held so far, each of the Democratic candidates has come under criticism.

Donoghue in 2004 donated to a Republican running for state Senate, John Thibault (she says he is a family friend). Tsongas moved to Charlestown in 2003 to be closer to her daughters, moving back to Lowell in March, and has never held political office .

State Representative James Miceli, one of the five Democrats in the race, lives in Wilmington, which is not in the district, and doesn't have plans to move (any registered voter at least 25 years old can run). The race also includes a candidate from the Constitution Party, Kevin Thompson, who is running largely to draw attention to a party that currently has about 50 members in Massachusetts.

Independent Patrick Murphy, a bricklayer, also entered the race recently. He is not accepting any donations, and during the race is planning to spend no more than $4,600, the maximum amount for an individual contribution.

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

Tonight's debate will start at 7 at the Devens Common Center, at 31 Andrews Parkway in Devens.

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.