Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 12, 1991 TAG: 9104120951
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
There are many obstacles in Tsongas' path, including his absence from public office for seven years and the fact that the last Democratic nominee was the hapless Michael Dukakis, a fellow Greek-American from Massachusetts.
Cancer could be yet another obstacle, or it could work in his favor.
The former Massachusetts senator describes his years battling lymphoma as a transforming experience that took him to "places in the mind that I never visited before." He says cancer is the reason he is running for president - "the obligation of my survival."
And he casts his personal triumph over the ultimate enemy as a model the nation should use in solving its economic problems - tough love instead of soothing reassurance, a bone marrow transplant instead of a macrobiotic diet.
"He's had a life experience that makes him different from everybody. It gives people something to write about rather than just who he dated when he was in high school," said Democratic pollster Harrison Hickman.
Hickman said surviving cancer will help Tsongas stand out when the field gets more crowded, the same way Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder's race will help him. "Wilder is clearly advantaged by being black. Tsongas is going to be advantaged by being different in this way," the pollster said.
But other analysts said being different by having cancer may not be a plus for a presidential candidate.
"You're not talking the election of one of many senators, governors or congressmen. You're talking about the leader of the Western world," said Republican strategist Roger Stone. "Voters are going to be very, very cautious about selecting a man who they think may not be physically up to the job."
Tsongas appeared at the National Press Club on Thursday with his doctor at his side, and his campaign schedule will include bike races and swim meets. But it's unclear whether that will be enough to convince people he is a safe bet.
Public attitudes toward cancer have evolved greatly in the past decade. Polls indicate the disease is no longer generally viewed as an automatic death sentence or something to hide.
"Not too many years ago, there was a terrible stigma associated with cancer. Nobody wanted to talk about it and in many cases people didn't even want to be around anybody with it. That has all changed," said Lois Callahan of the American Cancer Society.
But cancer patients live forever with the fear of recurrence, social workers say, and the public could have similar doubts about Tsongas.
Stone said he would line up a battery of doctors at a news conference to try to allay public fears if he were advising a candidate with a similar problem. "I think I'd have the doctors wearing white coats and stethoscopes," he said.
Yet he acknowledged that might not suffice.
"The cancer patients I know say `I've gone into remission.' " said Stone. "That's not the same as being cured."
by CNB