Brown also happens to be a member of the Single Payer Action Network. I don't think you'll find Hackett anywhere near that group...
--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> [Anyone know more about this? Was he too rudely antiwar? Why is
> Sherrod Brown so sacred? Because he writes for The Nation?]
>
> New York Times - February 14, 2006
>
> Popular Ohio Democrat Drops Out of Race, and Perhaps Politics
> By IAN URBINA
>
>
> Paul Hackett, an Iraq war veteran and popular Democratic candidate in
> Ohio's closely watched Senate contest, said yesterday that he was
> dropping out of the race and leaving politics altogether as a result
> of pressure from party leaders.
>
> Mr. Hackett said Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Harry
> Reid of Nevada, the same party leaders who he said persuaded him last
> August to enter the Senate race, had pushed him to step aside so that
> Representative Sherrod Brown, a longtime member of Congress, could
> take on Senator Mike DeWine, the Republican incumbent.
>
> Mr. Hackett staged a surprisingly strong Congressional run last year
> in an overwhelmingly Republican district and gained national
> prominence for his scathing criticism of the Bush administration's
> handling of the Iraq War. It was his performance in the Congressional
> race that led party leaders to recruit him for the Senate race.
>
> But for the last two weeks, he said, state and national Democratic
> Party leaders have urged him to drop his Senate campaign and again
> run for Congress.
>
> "This is an extremely disappointing decision that I feel has been
> forced on me," said Mr. Hackett, whose announcement comes two days
> before the state's filing deadline for candidates. He said he was
> outraged to learn that party leaders were calling his donors and
> asking them to stop giving and said he would not enter the Second
> District Congressional race.
>
> "For me, this is a second betrayal," Mr. Hackett said. "First, my
> government misused and mismanaged the military in Iraq, and now my
> own party is afraid to support candidates like me."
>
> Mr. Hackett was the first Iraq war veteran to seek national office,
> and the decision to steer him away from the Senate race has surprised
> those who see him as a symbol for Democrats who oppose the war but
> want to appear strong on national security.
>
> "Alienating Hackett is not just a bad idea for the party, but it also
> sends a chill through the rest of the 56 or so veterans that we've
> worked to run for Congress," said Mike Lyon, executive director for
> the Band of Brothers, a group dedicated to electing Democratic
> veterans to national office. "Now is a time for Democrats to be
> courting, not blocking, veterans who want to run."
>
> But Democratic leaders say Representative Brown, a seven-term
> incumbent from Avon, has a far better chance of toppling Senator
> DeWine.
>
> "It boils down to who we think can pull the most votes in November
> against DeWine," said Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic
> Party. "And in Ohio, Brown's name is golden. It's just that simple."
>
> Mr. Fern added that Mr. Brown's fund-raising abilities made him the
> better Senate candidate. By the end of last year, Mr. Brown had
> already amassed $2.37 million, 10 times what Mr. Hackett had raised.
>
> Senator Reid did not reply to repeated requests for comment.
>
> Asked about Mr. Hackett's contention that he had been pressed to
> leave the Senate race, a spokesman for Mr. Schumer, Phil Singer,
> said, "We've told both Sherrod Brown and Paul Hackett that avoiding a
> primary will make it easier to win the Ohio Senate seat, " but he
> added, "Obviously, the decision to run is Mr. Hackett's and Mr.
> Hackett's alone."
>
> Mr. Brown declined to comment on Mr. Hackett's candidacy, saying that
> he was strictly focused on building his own campaign.
>
> Democrats wanted to avoid a drawn-out primary, especially one that
> could get bruising with a tough-talking outsider like Mr. Hackett.
>
> The Ohio Senate race is regarded as critical to Democratic
> aspirations to take back Congress in the fall. Aside from focusing on
> Senator DeWine, the Democrats also hope to win as many as eight House
> seats in Ohio and the governorship from the Republicans.
>
> Ohio Democrats are hoping to exploit the larger problems plaguing the
> Republicans. State Republicans have struggled to distance themselves
> from Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican who cannot run again because of term
> limits and who was found guilty last summer of four misdemeanor
> ethics violations. Representative Bob Ney's still-unfolding role in
> the scandal over the lobbyist Jack Abramoff also looms over the
> state's Republicans.
>
> Mr. Hackett said he was unwilling to run for the Congressional seat
> because he had given his word to three Democratic candidates that he
> would not enter that race.
>
> "The party keeps saying for me not to worry about those promises
> because in politics they are broken all the time," said Mr. Hackett,
> who plans to return to his practice as a lawyer in the Cincinnati
> area. "I don't work that way. My word is my bond."
>
> Jennifer Duffy, who analyzes Senate races for the Cook Political
> Report, said that part of what made Democratic leaders nervous about
> Mr. Hackett was what had also made him so popular with voters.
>
> "Hackett is seen by many as a straight talker, and he became an icon
> to the liberal bloggers because he says exactly what they have wished
> they would hear from a politician," Ms. Duffy said. "On the other
> hand, the Senate is still an exclusive club, and the party expects a
> certain level of decorum that Hackett has not always shown."
>
> Mr. Hackett was widely criticized last year for using indecent
> language to describe President Bush. Last month, state Republicans
> attacked Mr. Hackett for saying their party had been hijacked by
> religious extremists who he said "aren't a whole lot different than
> Osama bin Laden."
>
> Though Republicans called for an apology, Mr. Hackett repeated the
> mantra of his early campaign: "I said it. I meant it. I stand behind
> it."
>
> Next Article in Washington (2 of 9) >
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