The Boston Globe’s lovefest over Niki Tsongas’s candidacy continued today with Adrian Walker’s column gushing all about how she’s “finally ready” to run for an elected office in her own right, seeking to carry on the legacy of her late husband, Sen. Paul Tsongas. It’s a great and touching story. Except we’ve heard it already, many many times.
What of the other candidates and their stories? The Globe, the Boston Herald, and other mainstream news outlets have been so fixated on Tsongas that the other candidates have been largely relegated to political footnotes or “also-runnings”. The Lowell Sun can’t really get past the coming Clash of the Lowell Titans, the 12-round bout between Tsongas and city Councilor Eileen Donoghue. Middlesex County Sheriff Jim DiPaola got some ink in the Sun, but only after declaring “Lowell is the center of the universe. And you can quote me on that” in the 3/4/07 edition of that paper.
So media coverage thus far has boiled down to sentimentality and dynasty, as well as local interest. How long is that going to last? How much more of the Tsongas legacy, or the Lowell Battle Royale, or Donoghue’s party membership, etc, before the press actually starts looking at experience, positions, and qualifications?
I’m certainly not bashing Lowell or the candidates. The press simply isn’t fulfilling its duty to provide full and fair information on who’s running and on real issues. Heck, we haven’t heard squat about the GOP.
Where are the print and TV clips of the Republicans? Where are the stories about Jamie Eldridge’s legislative record, his 100% labor rating, and his Clean Elections history? Where’s Feingold’s record and his positions? What has O’Brien done to qualify himself? What do they all stand for and what would they do if elected? How much are their campaigns raising? And on, and on, and on…
Do the blogs have to do the mainstream media’s work for them? I may have answered my own question.
I agree, it’s been pitiful. Eldridge, especially, is getting shafted. Some articles don’t even mention his name, even though he announced early and has talked the most substance, IMO. It makes me glad I’ve become a reader of Mass. blogs, else who knows what I’d be missing.
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I wonder, given that Eldridge won with a “clean” campaign before, if he and his supporters have the time and wherewithal to follow Deval’s model and build a grassroots phenomenon.
most of the candidates are not yet clear on their positions. I have to say, except for Jamie Eldridge, whose website sports two new policy pages to join the two he launched with.
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Not that I expect the media to get off its butt when the time comes, either. Since they haven’t in other races.
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For the websites so far, you can REALLY see the candidate’s first emphasis’s. Tsongas’ is on her media coverage (which as you say has been rather bereft of substance…enough already! and I LIKE Niki, don’t get me wrong). Eldridge has lots of content and substance…his record, his positions (which are fairly filled in with details, more than I’d expect at this point), even his bio is extensive – a short one, then “extended bio” beneath. And even some helpful links to register to vote or get an absentee ballot.
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Donoghue hasn’t got any content on her site yet, just a place holder, so it’s hard to say where that’s going, but she needs to get going on that. Finegold and O’Brien have the obligatory bio/contact/volunteer/donate sites, so to me, these three don’t seem to quite grock the whole web thing quite yet…they have time, but in the content wars, they are far behind. Maybe they’ll catch up all at once. They better think about how to “relaunch” their sites when they do.
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The others, DiPaola and Miceli, don’t have any sort of web presence at all that I’ve been able to glean…obviously, not going to be winning over the netroots any time soon.
…can you give the links so we can take a look?
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And that was me, discovering you can select somethign on a web page and then look at the source for THAT CODE ONLY in Firefox if you want. KEEN!
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You find something awesome in Firefox at least once a day.
still needs to buy a vowel. On her homepage it still reads,
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March – 16
Listen to Niki’s interview with Lynn Lupien from Community Connections here.
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Ooops.
The lack of coverage by the MSM is due to consolidation. There are very few media oulets left in the 5th District. Furthermore, the two Boston-based papers have little or no staff presence in most of these communities. For the most part, they have “correspondents” who submit puff pieces once in a while, if that. They do not have reporters who know or understand the current political landscape of the 5th District.
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The Lowell Sun could play a leading role, however, those of us who live in the City know quite well that this newspaper has elements that would prefer to control and create events not just report them.
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If you have not already planned to come to Lowell on Saturday to participate in the New Media Forum at UML – Meet the MA-05 Candidates, I would suggest you do. Two of Lowell’s well known bloggers, Dick and Lynne, are moderating and candidates Donoghue, Feingold and Eldridge have confirmed that they will be present.
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And as for the GOP, do they have a candidate yet?
however, the 5th district is diverse with many communities to be represented besides Lowell alone. My point in raising DiPaola’s quote is the blatant pandering he engaged in, to the apparent detriment to the other towns and cities in the district. They, too, feel that they should be held in some regard, no?
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As for the GOP, Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan is running, as are two others, including a former state rep whose names escapes me at the moment.
Not one GOP candidate has officially announced. I have been told to expect something this week through the rumor mill.
Realpolitik dictates that Nikki Tsongas will likely win the primary race due to more media exposure, name recognition from her late and still very beloved husband Paul Tsongas, and what will soon be establishment endorsements. Unless it comes down to a race between Jaime Eldridge and Nikki Tsongas I see no way he can win.
In a shorter election, you’d probably be right, but given that there are five months until the primary, I think there is time for a non-Tsongas candidate to break out.
JConway:
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As you reminded us on February 11th in your post, “Hilary is not entitled to the Presidency,” I believe that Niki is not entitled to represent the 5th District in the House of Representative.
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It is an open race. There are no frontrunners; just those created by the media.
Mrs. Tsongas is not entitled, however, how about we send John Q. Citizen to congress rather than another lifetime career hack. I thought Meehan would be a pleasant surprise. I was very wrong. Mrs. Tsongas can go to Washington for perhaps several terms and she can retire. If the 5th sends some thirty or forty year old, they will be there for twenty years plus.
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Color me sour on Massachusetts politics, but you want to talk about entitlement. We have politicians who now don’t even bother to campaign for re election because it’s “in the bag”. Enough already
Jim Miceli has 30+ years of experience in the Legislature, not because he is a career hack, but because he does a good job. He has had an opponent almost every election (primary and general) and has won handily.
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He is campaigning the old fashioned way, door-to-door, but his website is currently under construction http://www.jamesrmiceliforcongress.com and you can now contribute to his candidacy act http://www.ActBlue.com or by sending a check.