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Last night, the gloves came off at the final debate before the 5^th congressional primary, although whether any lasting damage was inflicted remains to be seen. As someone who attended the first and only one other of more than 20 debates with this group, it was interesting to see how much more polished and strident the candidates were at the 11^th hour of the campaign. I thought Eileen Donoghue was formidable as she whacked leading candidate Niki Tsongas on her lack of experience, contributions from outside sources, and vague plans. (For more details on the debate, read Dick Howe’s blog.) As I see it, ED had to come out swinging to try and shake up NT’s lead, and last night, she demonstrated an articulate forcefulness and focus that was inspiring and scary to behold. (Scary because I couldn’t help imagining myself up there and worrying how I would handle such an onslaught.) And that’s where I get hung up: NT stayed above the fray somewhat—and my inclination would have been to punch back when attacked. NT had her own issue with ED regarding her opponent’s ad that she felt misrepresented her position on Iraq, but she never fully addressed the issues ED attacked her on. Perhaps she felt she didn’t need to. ED’s attempt to make this an outsider issue (playing to this city’s tendency to be Lowell-centric in all things) and especially her use of “hijack the campaign,” as if NT’s contributors were bad guys trying to buy the seat for her, seems overly dramatic and a bit disingenuous. Does she seriously expect us to believe that NT does not have the interests of the 5^th at heart? As mentioned earlier, these candidates have gone numerous rounds—so folks paying attention should have a clear idea of where they stand on the issues. Now that we know their positions, the final test on who wins the election will be the candidate most people trust to represent their values and get the job done. The vote is still out, as they say, on that one.