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More than 100 people attended today’s Congressional Candidates’ Forum, sponsored by the Non Profit Alliance of Greater Lowell. For a take on the event, recorded live, see Dick Howe’s blog. For my awards of distinction, read on. First, the Idealism Award goes to Patrick Murphy who spoke about housing as “a basic human right, not just a commodity.” Murphy also scored for making two vital points regarding public education: the problem with funding schools solely on the property tax and the need to rework NCLB—particularly its punitive nature. Also on that topic, Thomas Tierney, a Republican newcomer, gets the Gaffe Award for not knowing about NCLB and its huge impact on schools nationwide. Niki Tsongas gets the Focus Award for clearly expressing her views of the federal role in housing, education, predatory lending, and the environment. Eileen Donoghue, always articulate at connecting her experience to national issues, gets the Shark Award for being the only one to take a bite out of an opponent when she attributed being “closely tied to Washington” as detrimental to change. Jamie Eldridge gets the Different Democrat Award for noting he’s the only one in favor of single-payer universal healthcare, the only clean elections candidate at the State House, and the one who will fight for principles—unlike “too many democrats who don’t fight for our values.” The Succinct Point Award goes to Barry Finegold, who powerfully noted that with the government spending $12 billion a month in Iraq, there’s no money for priorities. The Tardiness Award goes to Jim Miceli who messed up the order and permanently discombobulated the moderator. And Kevin Thompson gets the Hands Off Award for seeing most issues as not the government’s problem although I do share his frustration with answers that were “all about spending.”