Bending the Third Rail
Because We Should, We Can, We Do
Monday, February 13, 2006
Tomorrow For Hackett
It appears that the rumor about Hackett is true.
Great news for Dems in OH; if Paul Hackett sticks to his plan, the party has killed two problems with one deft withdrawal.

Vet Hackett (D) opts to run against Rep. Jean Schmidt (R), the freshman he nearly beat -- and Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) can concentrate on building a case against Sen. Mike DeWine.

We're told that Hackett plans an official announcement tomorrow, unless he changes his mind.

Make no mistake: Hackett's chances of defeating Schmidt are at least fifty-fifty, and Dems have credibly expanded the field of competitive races by one. (Can Dems clear the primary in OH-2?) Hackett's re-re-recruitement is the second major success for the DCCC in recent days: they just recruited ex-Rep. Ken Lucas to challenge Rep. Geoff Davis in KY-4.

AS Chris Cillizza notes, the filing deadline is Thursday, 4 p.m.
The bad news is that Paul Hackett had the Democratic spot for Senator by rights (Sherrod Brown said he wasn't running then changed his mind) and would have made a fine candidate and Senator. The good news as is mentioned above is that he has a good chance of beating Schmidt.

Paul is playing by the rules and is likely getting enormous pressure from the Democratic party to heal the Ohio situation with Brown. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth .... again .... about how Democrats run the party. But if it results in two Dems getting elected, that will be nice. But until the party gets it's act together, my money continues to go to candidates, not the party.
Written at 5:03 PM by Greyhair.
2 comments
2 Comments:
Blogger Lynne said...
My money also goes to the candidates, not the party.
This is the Dems last chance with me. If they can't get it together to present a cohesive and coherent message I'll turn into a Green. Vonnegut was right when he said we have the right and left wings of the American Business Party.
4:26 AM  
Blogger Bob P said...
GrayHair, you might also want to contact/kibbutz with Democratic Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune, who was recently named co-chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. I've known Mr. Portune since elementary school, and he has some actionable, and proven, ideas for the Party.

Portune was the first Democrat to be re-elected to his office in 37 years, and in 2004 actually received more votes than Dubya in this "reddest-of-the-red" corners of the Buckeye State. Obviously, he knows what to do to reach Ohio voters.

Mr. Portune can be reached at todd.portune@hamilton-co.org - I've always known him to be interested in what people are thinking and saying, and translating that into something that works.
6:21 AM  
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