Update [2006-2-14 0:55:9 by BooMan]: Okay. I have to revise this whole post. Hotline didn’t have the story right. The New York Times has the whole sad story. It looks like Schumer and Reid tried to play hardball with Hackett and asked him to go back on his word of honor. Hackett had promised other Democrats that he would not run for Schmidt’s seat, and Schumer and Reid asked him to double-cross them. That’s pathetic. Schumer is really starting to piss me off. I don’t hold this against Brown though. He is still a great candidate. Maybe Hackett will forgive the party one day when we have better and more principled leadership.
From the Hotline:
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.
Jean Schmidt, as you might recall, is the women that questioned the courage of Rep. John Murtha on the floor of the House and almost got assaulted by Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. She narrowly beat Hackett in the special election, and her chances of beating him again are diminished.
By giving up his Senate run and focusing on the house seat, Hackett is doing a double favor to the party. Sherrod Brown can now concentrate on beating the very vulnerable Mike DeWine, and it puts an additional House seat in play.
Hackett has more starpower in the blogosphere than Sherrod Brown. But, Brown, if he wins, will probably be one of the body’s more progressive senators.
Here is a good article on Brown.
I’m pleased with this development…should it turn out to be true…
if it’s true — Hackett came /this/close to beating Schmidt in ’04, and I’m sure her antics questioning John Murtha’s courage (not to mention the guy she “quoted” claimed he never said any such thing) displeased many of those who voted for her, even considering that the average American voter has the attention span of a poached egg. He’s built up name recognition in that neck of the woods.
What I don’t like is that this move may be under pressure of the Democratic Party, and not Hackett’s own move. Smells like another anointing…and I don’t like voters being told who they have to vote for — let Brown stand or fall on his own merits in a primary against Hackett…
There is some serious ugliness going on about this roundabout the other blogs, and I was going to go to sleep all depressed. I feel marginally better now. Ta.
Read at dKos that Hackett was pissed, and not interested in running for House seat because he had made promises to candidates in those races that he wouldn’t be running. And when told by Dem leadership, it is okay, we all break those promises, he declined.
Just what another blogger said, so far as I read.
NY Times says he’s pissed at the Democrats and dropping out of politics forever link (reg. req.)
Not, of course, that they are consistantly correct. But that’s what they say.
Sounds ugly:
He says Schumer and Reid pushed him to step aside to avoid a messy primary. Reid wouldn’t comment for the story.
He says Schumer and Reid pushed him to step aside to avoid a messy primary.
He says operatives were calling his contributors and asking them to stop funding his campaign. Brown was my favorite candidate in this race and, from his voting record he looks to be an excellent senator if he can make it past the difficulties with the voting machines and the (cough) new no recount law. But, you know what, that’s pretty damn low of Schumer.
from NYT:
Sounds all too familiar for my PA-resident ears.
I’m not very knowledgable of the OH race and not even Hackett himself even with his fairly high profile, for one reason or another, I wasn’t paying that close attention to his race last time around. But that he is actively being pushed out by Schumer and Reid makes me so fucking pissed off.
Hackett doesn’t strike me as someone who is likely to backdown and renege on his word…I suspect the rosy scenario of another run against Schmidt may not come to pass.
It sure looks like another Casey-Pennacchio fiasco…just another example how how the system is perverted and broken. Is the D leadership really this stupid?…to pressure this man to the point of withdrawing completely is spitting in the face of all progressives and liberals.
Peace
Any chance the other candidates would voluntarily withdraw and leave the field to him?
That’s a complete mystery to me, I don’t know who the others might be. I’m not in Ohio and was following the Hackett primary bid because of his initial showing against Schmidt.
I’m sure some of our Ohioans will weigh in on this soon.
Peace
Yeah, exactly what dada said, and then some.
Agree. What they said. (WTS). Makes me think that D party has become some corporate enterprise. Maybe that is how I’ve ended up with a choice in MI-08 between R1 and R2. Oh no. I know. It’s my fault for not being more involved with the party. I suppose if I was fighting for a progressive anti-war candidate in marginal district, there would be no party pressure by use of money and influence to ensure R2 gets nomination. More evidence that we are in system failure IMHO.
Oh look, a pattern of behavior by Reid and Schumer. Smash the progressive candidates out of the race.
Assholes.
Stoller calls it “ugly”, kos defends the dems. Can’t blame Hackett for systemic political corruption.
Smash the progressive candidates out of the race.
In this case, unless you know something I don’t about Brown’s voting record or character, I don’t think this is true. Indeed Brown strikes me is very progressive. The unfortunate tendency of the Dem leadership to try to control primary races by any means necessary is true, of course.
I realized after I hit post that I made a bad choice of words there. Sorry!
It’s really the systematic elimination of voter choice in the primaries that I’m pissed about, anyway.
It’s really the systematic elimination of voter choice in the primaries that I’m pissed about, anyway.
No need to apologise at all. I was a rabid supporter of Howard Dean 2 frickin years before the ’04 election and have been critical of the DLC for about a decade and so completely understand your anger.
I’m hoping they don’t do Jon Tester (who is rapidly gaining ground in Montana) in and the the slimy Schumer does not succeed in his attempt to take Eliot Spitzer down. (I don’t expect he will, I expect that Spitzer’s popularity far exceeds Schumer’s) I do not buy any of the rationales for promoting Casey in PA and believe that to be the worst bit of political strategy since the party backed Zell Miller.
It’s just that I don’t see Brown as a bad candidate, at least we were spared that.
Now that I’ve read about Brown (CG hangs head sheepishly)…I agree with you about him.
The Casey thing makes my blood boil.
Is the process open for him to get on the ticket as an Independent or other?
That would probably go against his pledge not to run against the other Dem candidates.
Yeah, it’s likely not to be an option but I would say all deals are off, now. I haven’t looked closely yet but my guess is he won’t just sit around.
According to the NYT article, the deadline for filing is 2 days away so I would assume that is not an option.
Peace
I think for Inds it might be May 1
2006 Ohio Congressional and Statewide Races
Primary Filing Deadline: 2/16/06, Primary: 5/2/06, Independents Filing Deadline: 5/1/06, General Election 11/7/06,
spot on and profound, brother, right on. Thanks. Love the sig, Gil Scott-Heron is quite the fine prolific urban poet.
Actually no. To pressure him to withdraw is spitting in the face of grassroots activists. The difference is really important. A lot of misunderstanding has occurred over the Hackett-Brown thing because people believe Grassroots = Progressive and Beltway Insider = Centrist. It’s often that way but not this time. This time you had Grassroots Centrist Hackett and Progressive Insider Brown. No matter the outcome in this primary, we Progressive Grassroots people were going to half win and half lose. In that way, it is not like PA at all, where Grassroots Progressives lose out completely if/when Bob Casey gets the nomination.
that’s what I keep telling my friends here in PA. Casey wasn’t picked for his positions, but with no regard to his positions.
Brown would be the most progressive Senator since Wellstone. But people don’t know him. Schumer just forced a fighting Dem out for a leftie.
The point is, let’s the voters decide. But in this case, we win. Hackett might have been effective as a partisan, but we have no idea how he would have voted.
Yeah I am not disappointed with this outcome at all. And a lot of people in Ohio know and like Sherrod Brown. (I actually spent some time in Ohio and talked to them so I’m not just pulling that out of my ass.)
But I can understand why people to whom the power struggle is more important than the ideology struggle – OR people who are grassroots activists on the ground in Ohio – feel shat upon. It’s not a nice feeling at all.
I think the party leaders screwed up on this one big time. We lost a good man and a viable candidate to their stupidity yet again.
This pisses me off to no end.
I was still at dKos when he ran against Schmidt. It was exciting to see the enthusiasm involved in the online fund raising that happened live.
The Ds leaders/consultants are killing off the enthusiasm of the grassroots. Who will be the new party members and activists. If they keep this up they’ll end up like with nothing but oldtimers involved. Not a way to build a party.
and totally eliminate the primaries. Let’s just have the Party Powers-That-Be tell us who we’re supposed to vote for, and all fall into line like sheep…or in the case of the Democrats, lemmings.
Reminds me of an old story of a Party election in Communist Russia. A factory worker showed up at the polls, was handed an envelope, and told to put it in the box. He was curious as to who he was voting for, and began to open the envelope. Horrified, the Party boss in attendance stopped him: “What do you think you’re doing? Don’t you know that this is a secret ballot???”
We’re not quite at that point…yet…
This really sucks…Sherrod Brown might be a great guy, and a hell of a lot more progressive than DeWhine. But I have a very dim view of anointed candidates…if they can’t stand up to a primary challenge, how the f*ck are they going to do when facing the Republicans with a full slate of dirty tricks?
‘Nuff said…I’m depressed now…
The Ohio election process has deteriorated since the 04 election. I doubt that anything but someone new could beat a Republican. They still have the Diebold edge.
From Rolling Stone
The real issue, it seems to me, is that Hackett is a loose canon. He swears. He says impolitic, un-poll-tested things. He criticizes the party leadership for steering the Democrats into an electoral ditch.
Sherrod Brown? He is nothing if not a “safe choice.”
Committing to a candidate like Hackett means committing to changing business as usual — and despite their mounting losses, the Democratic establishment seems to have an unholy commitment to the status quo.
The thing that bothered me was in the NYTimes article when Dem staff were calling Hackett’s supporters asking them not to donate to him. Isn’t there a diary here about the inability to volunteer for the dems?
…maybe Hack will get the urge to run as an Independent…that’d be great!
Same New York Times as above
emphasis mine.
“level of decorum,” fk that, what we need is a George Galloway type level of decorum from our D Sens, and Hackett may well have provided that.
From a while ago in Mother Jones
That is by far my favorite Hackett story.
Yeah, that one rolls up supporting freedom of speech and a strong defense for America into a neat soundbite.
I think the dem party minders have underestimated this guy’s poularity. He is the only candidate I would mention to my nonpolitical but concerned for our future relatives in Ohio as one to watch for.
His language is no worse than Birdshot’s and Paul is smarter about gun safety.
The dem minders also need to embrace the principle of respecting in disagreement.
I’m pretty sure Hackett promised only not to run in that particular race.
If you’re so inclined, contact Paul Hackett here
Our country needs you. I implore you not to quit the field of politics. If you’re not good enough for the DLC and Harry Reid, then to hell with them! Run independent then!
I was at dKos during the online fundraising efforts for your last campaign. Now the DLC/Reid crap on all that enthusiasm. Where the hell do they think the next generation of democrats is going to come from.
[…]
I am in contact with a wide variety of ND democrats, ages 75 to 25. And I’m an active blogger on http://www.boomantribune.com.
Whether locally or on the blogs I have never in my life seen such a level of frustration with the actions of the leaders of the Democrat Party.
People like you give us hope that our republic’s democracy can be saved. Those who are aware of the true condition of the country’s situation are appalled and at the breaking point.
Please don’t give up. I recall the immortal words of John Paul Jones, “Surrender, hell, we’ve just begun to fight!
Well, give’m hell Paul, give’m hell!
Sincerely,
Xxxx X Xxxxxx (NDD)
i dont think its ever a good thing when the party elites take power away from the people.
what are they afriad of?
this is what we have primaries for….to decide who we want to run in elections…..all this meddling is not good for us in the long run…we need to be motivating and inspiring people to get out and vote and become involved at every level of govt….50% of the people in this country dont vote in major elections and they dont vote because they dont feel empowered….like it will mean anything…and they are right…..it doesnt mean anything when elections are rigged and no one fights to fix them….it doesnt mean anything when party leaders meet behind closed doors and decide which candidate will get support and which will be fucked in the ass….volunteering, contributing, voting mean nothing when the outcome is decided or when the two choices are indistiguishable…and that is what we have here….nd the answer is not “lets just win then we can change it from the inside when we are in power”….the people in power never want to change anything.
Don’t be so quaint. We don’t have primaries so people can vote on candidates they like </snark>
I’ve never been so freaking disgusted these past couple of days. Just when it can’t get any worse. It gets worse.
I am running for Congress myself and I have met Paul. We met during the special election when I was still considering if I should run. He had Max Cleland and John Glenn at the same event with him. We talked about changing things and if enough of us could get in, we could make a difference. I was shocked that he was running for Senate and not against Schmidt when I initially heard it, but never doubted that Paul would be a good Senator. I am not surprised at all that he would not run for the House in the 2nd, and I don’t think he is out of politics forever.
When I was asked to run for Congress by other regular people like me. I thought, ‘we will put this campaign together and once the powers that be see what we are doing they will get behind it.’ That has been my justification for answering the people’s request to run against Mike Pence here in Indiana. Now I am wondering what will happen when the powers that be see how big our little campaign has become, because it is not one that is in control of the party. It is generated by the people. I don’t think the powers that be really want that.
After seeing all of this in Ohio, I realize that no matter what, our’s will be an ‘outsider’ campaign, and now I am going to be really ok with that!!
Barry Welsh IN 6th District Congressional Candidate
What a pathetic state we are living in. So much for We the People folks. They are blatantly shoving candidates of their choice in our face. Well I say fuck them. I will write Paul and encourage him to run as an Indy candidate. That ought to get Shumer really pissed. Break your promise Paul? It’s done all the time? Anything to get elected? Bullshit!
This is bad news this morning. The Democratic Party is really broken. Why can’t they let voters decide whether they want the “uncouth” upstart guy or the smooth, cog-in-the-machine guy? Maybe Hackett would have lost but Reid and Schumer didn’t want to take the chance that he might win… and change the party.
Schumer is backing Suozzi in the primary against Elliot Spitzer. Wants to knock Spitzer down a peg. Might interfere with Schumer’s ability to play rainmaker here in the Empire State.
Schumer also leaked the name of Bob Menendez as Corzine’s choice for the latter’s former senate seat. Wants to knock Corzine down a peg. Might interfere with Schumer’s ability to play rainmaker in the US Senate.
Now he’s knocked Hackett down a peg. So far, in fact, that Hackett is leaving politics altogether. Way to go Chuck!
Remember, folks: It’s all about Chuck.
You know what? FUCK CHUCK SCHUMER!
My automatic vote for his re-election just went permanently Green. In the Democratic primary? I’ll vote for my neighbor’s dog before I vote for Chuck Schumer.
He is politically dead to me.
Without hijacking the diary, are there any opinions of Clint Curtis entering the race to oppose Tom Feeney in Florida?
that should make for interesting theater.
Just another one of yer average lifelong Republican got disgusted turned Democrat election race….ha!