Was the GOP Playing with the Votes in Mass.?

Niki Tsongas won a Congressional Seat in a special election in Massachusetts. Tsongas supports the DREAM ACT. Her opponent who still had a strong showing stated that her victory margin was so low because she supported the DREAM ACT.

The author of the essay below says this should be a warning to both parties.

Is he in agreement that Tsongas should not support the DREAM ACT? Sounds like that. His comment at the end of the article maker me wonder:

"But Tsongas's victory was harder than it should have been. Any Democrat complacent about 2008 should go over the returns from Paul Tsongas's old district."

Is he implying that that the Republicans almost stole the election? After all, they are known for doing that.

Either way, congradulations to Niki Tsongas and thanks for supporting the DREAM ACT and shame on Jim Ogonowski for being so narrow-minded about education.


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Test Run For 2008
In a Special Election, Lessons for Both Parties
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Washington Post
Friday, October 19, 2007; Page A21



The narrow victory of Democrat Niki Tsongas in a special congressional election in Massachusetts this week offers warnings to both Republicans and Democrats for 2008.

Her victory on Tuesday speaks to the continuing unpopularity of President Bush and the war in Iraq. But her less than robust margin over Republican Jim Ogonowski -- she won 51 percent to his 45 percent, with minor-party candidates taking the rest -- tells Democrats they cannot assume that Bush's low standing will turn the road to next year's elections into easy street. Individual candidates can still trump party affiliation, and sleeper issues can catch politicians by surprise.
In Massachusetts's 5th Congressional District -- a collection of mill towns and affluent and blue-collar suburbs north of Boston -- the surprise issue was illegal immigration. Ogonowski made it the centerpiece of an anti-Washington campaign. An Ogonowski news release, for example, accused Tsongas of being "committed to giving cheap college to illegals at taxpayer expense."

Tsongas, a community college dean, favored granting in-state tuition rates to the children of undocumented immigrants. In Ogonowski's translation of that, Tsongas believed that "Massachusetts taxpayers should foot the bill for the college tuition of the children of illegals."

Republicans think the immigration issue helped Ogonowski, so the country may be in for a lot more of this sort of thing next year. "Everywhere we went, people wanted to talk about immigration," said Matt Wylie, Ogonowski's general consultant. "It was just coming up over and over again..."


for complete essay click title of this post