In Fifth District (MA) race, concerns shift from Iraq

[unhappycamper]

"But thank goodness only 13 and 14. And they can't go to Iraq." The 37-year-old Lowell resident worries about paying for her daughters' college tuition and affordable city housing. (JOHN TLUMACKI/GLOBE STAFF)


In Fifth District race, concerns shift from Iraq
By Matt Viser, Globe Staff | September 3, 2007


LOWELL - Like politicians everywhere, the candidates in the Fifth Congressional District are spending countless hours telling voters how they feel about the most prominent issue in the country: the war in Iraq.

In TV ads, on the stump, and at campaign events across the district, the five Democrats and two Republicans have hammered away with well-crafted messages about their stances on the war.

But from the cafes in Concord to the ethnic restaurants in Lowell, voters in this diverse district say that while they are deeply concerned and highly opinionated about the war, they are hungry for the bread-and-butter political issues that more directly affect their everyday lives. They want more federal subsidies for affordable housing, a better economy, and new approaches for improving schools.

"Nobody has lit a fire in me," Antonio Mendieta, a 55-year-old Lowell banker, said at Mambo Grill in downtown Lowell. "They aren't focusing enough on creating more jobs in Massachusetts. I want someone who will bring more jobs to the area, fix the highways, the bridges, and the potholes."

As voters head to the polls tomorrow for the primary election in the country's lone open Congressional seat, the special election is suggesting that some voters' concerns have begun to shift since the Democrats drubbed Republicans in the 2006 midterm elections, which was seen as a national referendum on the war in Iraq. With the potentially pivotal elections in 2008 still to come, the Fifth District election is being monitored by both national parties at a time when nearly three-fourths of Americans say they are dissatisfied with Congress and with the way things are going in the country.

~snip~

"Almost without exception what I hear is that we have to end the war in Iraq," Donoghue said in a recent interview.



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uhc comment: This is the problem we are facing. Dems want to cure/fix many wrongs, which dilutes the antiwar message. It's like trying to herd cats. :spank: You piss the cats off & you don't get much done in the meantime.

[skids]

1. One could say any cause is "diluted"...

...not just the cause for peace.

I just like living in this state, where progressive is more mainstream. We still have a bunch of backwash hiding in their houses. They don't.