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Paul Tsongas' Call to Economic Arms
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19908 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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4 / 1992 |
1,888 Words |
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Judith Colp
Judith Colp is a reporter for the Washing Times |
While the traditional presidential campaign calls for candidates who give rousing speeches and kiss babies, Democratic nominee Paul E. Tsongas has instead been dispensing copies of an 85-page booklet, A Call to Economic Arms.
The booklet, which the former Massachusetts senator wrote last winter - and on which his candidacy is expected to soar or fall - outlines his views on everything from education to global warming.
Criticizing both major political parties, Tsongas spells out his "New American Mandate." He calls for changing the antitrust laws to make U.S. companies more competitive; reducing the capital gains tax for long-term investment; imposing tax credits for corporate research and development; eliminating quarterly financial reports for publicly held companies (thereby discouraging short-term thinking); and raising gasoline taxes.
"If this book did not exist, I would not still be in the race. The only avenue I have to run on is my heartfelt sense that I understand better than the other candidates what needs to be done; and when people read this, they can understand the mind-set of someone who wishes to be president, instead of the nominal rhetorical flourishes," says Tsongas.
The book was such a hit in recession-weary New Hampshire that the 50-year-old Tsongas won the state's Democratic primary, the first in the nation. The victory pulled his race out of the long-shot range.
But analysts contend Tsongas, a regional favorite in New Hampshire, will face an uphill struggle as the campaign moves out of his native Northeast and into the South.
The 50-year-old Tsongas likes to boast that he never lost an election in a 16-year career that spanned membership in the Lowell City Council to serving in the U.S. Senate.
In the tradition of turning your liability into an asset, his first commercial shows him furiously swimming laps while narrator says, "Getting America back on track won't be easy, but Paul Tsongas has never been afraid to swim against the current."
For starters, Tsongas has been absent from the political scene since 1984. That was the year he shocked Washington by resigning from a promising political career in the Senate to spend more
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