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This loss was particularly damaging in caucus states like Washington, which became an ideal target for Tsongas because his constituency consists mainly of upscale, educated voters. Tsongas' Mr. Candor persona allowed him to benefit from the attacks on his opponent's character. Clinton and his assistants have since admonished reporters to give Tsongas' own record deeper scrutiny.
Clinton's need to fight off doubts about his character is leaving its mark on his message. His intense efforts in New Hampshire and Georgia forced him to divert time and money from other states he might have won. Further, Clinton has adjusted the emphasis of his message in subtle ways. He started as a new- wave centrist disdainful of traditional liberal nostrums. But against the fiscally conservative Tsongas, Clinton has had to find other points of contrast in their philosophies. He has reached out to traditional Democrats -- minorities, working-class families, older voters still enamored of the New Deal. Without changing any of his positions an iota, Clinton has inched rhetorically toward being the compassion candidate. Tsongas, he says, "wants to make life harder for ((working people)). We want to make life somewhat easier for people already paying the bills."
Clinton understandably feels threatened by his plodding, sober rival. An NBC/Wall Street Journal survey last week found that only 5% viewed Tsongas as an unacceptable nominee, while 17% rejected Clinton. Says pollster Peter Hart: "Tsongas' greatest advantage is that he repels no one."
Whether Tsongas can build on that asset is uncertain. In New Hampshire he had a year to campaign at his leisure. As the nominating contest goes national, Tsongas has not been able to expand his austere message. "We're going to have to broaden the appeal," he conceded last week, while giving no evidence that he knew how. Nor is it clear that Tsongas can keep up effectively with Clinton's tireless pace. During a televised debate in Dallas last week, Clinton was feisty, Tsongas wan. "I was just exhausted," he said later. His lean campaign organization, which he began to enlarge only after New Hampshire, also has difficulty competing with the far larger team Clinton assembled last fall.
Tsongas sometimes gives the impression of being as surprised as many of the pundits that he has made it to the Democratic finals. Now that he has been euchred into negative slugging with Clinton -- an exercise for which Tsongas seems ill equipped -- his ability to demonstrate leadership will be further crimped.
Still, Tsongas is gritty enough to put up a stiff fight, and Jerry Brown's continued presence will nibble some votes from both front runners. That will prevent any candidate from winning a critical mass of delegates soon. For months party leaders had hoped to have a consensus candidate in place by mid- March so that the Democrats could target George Bush, the most vulnerable incumbent since Ronald Reagan challenged Jimmy Carter 12 years ago. But the chemistry for that accomplishment may be as transitory as the chemistry between Clinton and Tsongas.