Pronouncing The Candidates' Names: A Primary Primer

It's hard enough keeping track of all the candidates for Senate — now try pronouncing their names.

At Downtown Crossing last week, we asked a half-dozen voters to take their best shot at Pagliuca, Capuano, and Khazei. Not one person pronounced them all correctly:

When Paul Tsongas, the late Massachusetts senator, ran for president in 1992, America — not to mention the press — had trouble pronouncing his name. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote of him: “Never mind character flaws. Is America ready for a President with a peculiar consonant cluster?”