Posted on 02/12/2006 8:19:13 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
National Democrats are turning up the pressure on Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett, openly asking him to leave his campaign for U.S. Senate and take a second shot at a Cincinnati-area House seat that he nearly won last summer.
Democrats have privately suggested for some time that Hackett, who has a national Internet following but faces the more experienced Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, in a Senate primary, would be better off running again for the House seat held by GOP Rep. Jean Schmidt. Democrats acknowledge their chances of winning a district that voted 64 percent for President Bush in 2004 are slim without Hackett.
"This isn't talking behind the scenes; I'm saying it publicly. ... I'm petitioning Paul Hackett to run for Congress," Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Sunday.
Hackett declined comment Sunday, but has frequently said he's in the Senate race to stay.
Hackett was the first Democrat to declare his bid for Republican Sen. Mike DeWine's seat in October, less than two months after Hackett earned 48 percent of the vote in a special election against Schmidt. It appeared at the time that Brown wouldn't run for Senate, but he changed his mind a few days later.
Hackett didn't take kindly to immediate private pressure to go back to the House race and leave the Senate campaign to Brown.
"This isn't about getting someone out for Sherrod Brown; we need more races," Emanuel said.
Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio was one Democrat who urged Hackett to run for Senate when it appeared Brown wouldn't. Now he, too, is asking Hackett to reconsider.
"If he stays in the Senate race, I'm with Paul Hackett, but this is about the House race and giving us another member of the Democratic caucus," Ryan said.
Republicans hold a 231-202 advantage in the House with one vacant seat and one Independent. Democrats would have to win 15 seats held by the GOP and defend all of their own to regain the majority they lost in 1994.
I respect and salute Hackett for serving his country while he was in uniform. My family and I will be forever indebted to him and his brothers in arms, but he is a political lightweight that is mush like a ship adrift without a compass
How long will it take Paul Hackett to see that no one wants him?
You need two-thirds majority in the Senate to convict an impeached person.
Even if the Dems take both Houses, I don't think we need to worry about President Pelosi.
"You need two-thirds majority in the Senate to convict an impeached person"
Are you sure? I thought it was currently 60 senators, or three-fifths. But I'm not really sure.
Last time the rats did it when Torricelli became unelectable in a much more liberal state.
Candidate’s remark rattles Democrats(D)(calls for deportation of illegal immigrants)
Never, sometime between his last race and now, he has lost his mind.
They only want Hackett to leave because Sherrod Brown has such a great acceptance speech ready...."Four score and seven years ago...."
bump........
Ohhh, I seee...Democrats are urging this war hero to NOT run for the Senate. I guess it is too complex for this war hero to understand. Yess...I see.
They always say the GOP is their worst enemy, but the truth is that they are their own greatest enemy. The only way we can lose to those dorks is if we just decided to be complacent and sit on our hands. Those guys are out of touch with everything ....ranging from the pulse of the country, to each other. I am constantly surprised that the party even exists .....most other entities would have long collapsed under the same conditions. Schisms galore.
They should be called the Dumbocrapic party, because they sure act like it.
Oh ....and guess what! They will probably find a way to blame Bush and Rove for this and then have a big whine party over at DU. LOL. If this was middleschool we would be taking their lunch money every day.
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