Mark of a Massachusetts Moderate

NEW YORK--When nearly one half of Harvard students polled last March said that they supported former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, the 51-year-old Lowell, Mass. native was at the top of his political career.

But within a few short weeks, Tsongas had suspended his campaign and dropped out of the race he had entered a full year earlier, still sounding his message of generational and fiscal responsibility.

Tsongas delivered that same message on Wednesday night, just before New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo's speech nominating Bill Clinton for the office Tsongas once sought.

"It is our profound responsibility to return this country to the path of social justice and environmental protection," Tsongas said. "But it is also our responsibility to return this country to the path of economic growth and fiscal discipline."

Tsongas delegates who joined the entire convention hall in cheering the survivor for 10 minutes Wednesday say their candidate had a larger role in the campaign than simply serving as an endorsement for Clinton.

"The Democratic Party is better off for Tsongas having run," said a Texas Tsongas delegate. "It made America take notice on economic issues. Bill Clinton is a better candidate for having Tsongas run against him."

Many others have pointed to the four minority platform planks brought to the floor of the convention Tuesday night. The planks proposed a capital gains tax cut on long term securities and a middle class tax cut among other proposals. Although all four planks were defeated, Democrats still credit Tsongas with moderating Clinton's stands on economic issues.

Dennis Fanin, manager of Tsongas' ill-fated campaign, said Wednesday that the economic situation and the Democratic Party would not have been the same without Tsongas.

"I think Paul Tsongas has made a tremendous difference in this debate," Fanin said.

And Holley Ramsey, the 19-year-old Florida delegate who introduced Tsongas before his speech, recalled what many feel is his most important contribution--the refusal to pass the burgeoning debt on to the next generation.

"He said that people my age have to cover millions of dollars in bad checks that Ronald Reagan and George Bush have been writing for years," Ramsey said.

And press assistant P.A. Carr said that Tsongas' economic message was heard. As a result, Tsongas will work for the party.

"He is solidly behind the Clinton-Gore ticket," Carr said. "That's of number one importance."

In addition to his work on behalf of the ticket, sources say Tsongas and conservative Sen. Warren Rudman (R-N.H.) will forge a "Concord Coalition."

The organization will travel the country challenging congressional candidates to pledge to cut the deficit in half by the end of their terms or leave office.