An AP story reports:
Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett, a Bush administration critic who had been recruited by top Democrats to run for U.S. Senate, said Tuesday he was reluctantly dropping his campaign and declared his political career over.
''My donor base and host base on both coasts was contacted by elected officials and asked to stop giving,'' Hackett told The Associated Press on Tuesday. ''The original promise to me from Schumer was that I would have no financial concerns. It went from that to Senator Schumer actually working against my ability to raise money.''
Schumer, a New York Democrat who heads the party's Senate campaign committee, was not immediately available for comment.
And from Reuters:
Hackett said he was under heavy party pressure to end his Senate race and clear the way for Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown to face vulnerable Republican incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine in November.
``I made this decision reluctantly, only after repeated requests by party leaders, as well as behind the scenes machinations that were intended to hurt my campaign,'' Hackett said in a statement.
And from the NY Times:
"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."
And My View:
A mind-boggling f***-up by the Democratic party leadership. The primary campaign should have been left to the Democratic voters of Ohio. If Brown’s name really was “golden” he’d have won. But if Paul Hackett carried the day money would not have been a problem. I don’t really believe that Democratic money sources would have left him twisting in the breeze.
Bad smell here.
11 comments:
Hey Art, the story sounds familiar, establishment career politician, raising a ton of dough vs. the progressive AND more popular upstart.
Sounds like you should also supporting Weiss here in CD 8.
Dear Anon,
There's no evidence that that the DCCC has put any pressure on any of the CD 8 candidates to withdraw.
I continue to support the liberal Giffords, whom I believe is best suited to the moderate views of most CD 8 voters, but it seems to me that the publicity over the Ohio fiasco can only benefit Jeff Latas.
If Latas won the primary I'd have no problem being an active supporter. Weiss? I don't know...after the last go round I swore that I would never again vote for any candidate only on the grounds that he or she was less objectionable than the Reublican.
Art
Or a Republican.
Interesting post on the Kos by Jeff Latas.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/14/124513/914
I'm becoming a believer in this new movement. If you have seen his post on the Kos I recommend you visit his blogs on the Kos. He is the only candidate in this race that is not afraid to speak the truth. I think the progressives have found a shining light in Latas and I know the movement that he is part of will change the face of politics as we know it.
His blogs, http://www.dailykos.com/user/Jeff%20Latas
His web site, www.jefflatas.com
Sounds like some of the progressive organizations are starting to get behind him, too.
Dear Anon,
Thanks for the URLs. As a matter of fact I follow all the candidates' links and e-mails. But I'm sure they'll be useful to others.
Thanks
It really angers me when the national party butts into the primary races. That's why when the DCCC called me several months ago asking for donations I told them thank-you-very-much-but-I'll-be-donating-to-the-Democratic-primary-candidate-of-MY-choosing. I'm not thrilled with some of our national Democratic "leaders"--they appear to be playing way too much defense and coming off as the anti-Bush, anti-Republican rather than playing "offense" and successfully promoting a positive, compelling, reality-based platform that the majority of the country can get behind. When they mess with the state Democratic primaries, it creates more distrust. By doing this to Hackett, it may discourage non-career-politicians from getting involved. And the Democratic Party desperately needs involvement/input/ideas from those outside the bubble.
Certainly makes the Democratic leadership look like they "hate" vets. I think they're scared they will loose power to a new and dynamic group of progressives.
Jim Click, Don Diamond et al are all behind Huffman. My bet, Hellon is out in the next month or two. Huffman makes boat loads of money and wins the primary.
By the way, I'm sure the repugs are doing this. This is their style and the DLC is only a copy cat org. Monkey see money do. This is way we need real progressives in this race and they must win to change the order of business in the party.
I'll bet. Huffman wins the primary. Graf gets close but only by 5%.
I don't think that the Washington DC party "leadership" is afraid of vets--my understanding is that they have been very supportive of the approx. new 50 Democratic vet candidates running--in fact they showcased them at that event last Wednesday with Cleland, Kerry, etc. [FYI--Latas was there, of course.]
I don't know exactly what happened with Brown and Hackett but it looks like slimy politics that are antithetical to the true values of the Democratic party, or let's say, the 1970s reformed Democratic party.
The party using its power to "squash division in favor of a candidate that party regulars think would be best"-- say what??? The party members INSIDE THE DISTRICT should be given the opportunity to vote for the candidate they think "would be best" to represent their district.
It's too bad that Hackett's out. I'd sent him (a little) money along the way.
Let's not repeat Ohio's mistakes and conclude that the obvious is the best candidate. That's the purpose of the primary.
I've said it here before, albeit quietly, but there are some true progressives in the race. Francine Shacter is one. I find her thoughtful, interesting, smart, energizing and highly committed to advancing pregressive values. I think she could forge effective change in Congress to the District's benefit.
My two cents...
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