The big story here seems to be the big Democrat Party Leader [?] Dean speaking to the kids. (student audience in Miami)
Perhaps he is more comfortable pulling the "sheep over their wool"?
Good riddens.
Well then Dean had better rein in Harry Reid and the fatso swimmer. According to an article posted here yesterday, they told this guy to get out of the race.
LOL! Dean doesn't control the his sorry party...lol.
Culture of skulduggery?!?
My paranoia is that the DNC will play up Deans zany antics to show how "centrist" Hillary has become.
It's good to see the Dems' in-fighting, but its outcome in Ohio doesn't mean anything for the GOP. Sherrod Brown is a guaranteed loser in the upcoming Governor's race.
Er. Isn't Crazy Dr. Dean the head of the DNC. If anyone knows what happened its gotta be him. Unless Clinton pulled a Toricelli on Hackett or something along those lines.
Small wonder Dean's upset. I had heard that Hackett was so left-wing fringe at some points as to make Dean look sane.
Dean is a flippin' idiot! He couldn't run a hot dog stand with chilled water in Nigeria in a draught.
The big story here seems to be the big Democrat Party Leader [?] Dean speaking to the kids. (student audience in Miami)
Perhaps he is more comfortable pulling the "sheep over their wool"?
If i was Hackett i would run as an independent. Granted i cannot stand the guy but it seems like he got a raw deal here so in spite he should run an independent candidacy
How in the world did Dean become the face and voice of the DNC??? Not complaining, just have not figured out the mechanics of how this happened.
It looks like Dean has finally said something that makes real sense.
Hacket should have known better. He was not ignorant to the plan.
BTW, keep up the good work Democrats!
Yup. That's it. Karl Rove just pulled the puppet strings and Chuckie Schumer and Harry Reid danced to his tune.
Dean blames Bush for this...
That's pretty funny, Howie, considering that you're supposed to be the chief skuldugger.
Hackett cites vow in declining to run
BY HOWARD WILKINSON | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
It was pressure from Democratic Party leaders that pushed him out of the U.S. Senate race, Paul Hackett said Tuesday, but it was his conscience that prevented him from running again in the 2nd Congressional District.
"I made a promise to people who are running in that district right now that I wouldn't do it," Hackett said in an interview with The Enquirer on Tuesday. "And I could not go back on that."
Hackett, a 44-year-old Indian Hill lawyer and Marine Corps veteran of Iraq, not only dropped out of the U.S. Senate primary battle with U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Lorain, but stunned Democratic Party leaders here and in Washington with the announcement that he would not run for the 2nd District seat he lost last summer to Rep. Jean Schmidt.
"The pressure was incredible," said Hackett. "But I gave my word."
Hackett said that over the past two months he told three of the Democrats running for the 2nd District seat - Victoria Wulsin, Thor Jacobs and Jim Parker - that he would not jump from the Senate race into the 2nd District campaign, no matter what kind of pressure he got from party leaders.
Tuesday, he said he had a message for supporters who believe he is the only Democrat who could beat Schmidt this fall: "Just get over it, move on."
"Who am I to tell those people they need to get out of my way so I can run?" said Hackett of the Democrats already in the 2nd District race. "I'm willing to let these people show their stuff. I'm not going to rain on their parade. I'm just one guy. Who the hell was I 12 months ago? Nobody heard of me then, either."
He was, in fact, a political nobody last March when he came home from a seven-month tour of duty in Iraq and decided he wanted to take a shot at the vacant 2nd District seat.
A personal-injury lawyer whose only political experience was a short stint on Milford City Council, he emerged from a five-candidate Democratic primary last June and ended up a national political sensation - a Marine veteran of Iraq who believed the war was a mistake, with big money flowing into his campaign from all over the country.
In the end, he lost the seat with 48 percent of the vote. But he lost in a district where President Bush had won 65 percent of the vote in 2004; Democratic Party leaders in Washington thought they had a marketable commodity in Hackett.
It was almost immediately after the August special congressional election, Hackett said, that he began getting phone calls from New York Sen. Charles Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid urging him to get into the Senate race.
"It was impressive, awesome," Hackett said. "These guys even had their wives call my wife, Suzi. They wanted me bad. It was like waving crack in front of an addict."
After first saying he would not run, Brown entered the race. Hackett said he believes Reid continued to support his candidacy, but said Schumer backed Brown.
He accused the New York senator and other Democratic elected officials of calling potential campaign donors and asking them not to give to the Hackett campaign.
"I know there were calls to potential donors; people told me," Hackett said. "But that's OK. This is a big boy's game. I'm not crying in my soup over it."
With Brown holding a massive edge over him in fundraising, Hackett said he concluded it was not worth the effort.
"I'm a team player; I'm a good-humored guy; I can take it," Hackett said. "But why should I bang my head against the wall, sacrifice my staff, put myself and my family through all of this? I couldn't change the reality."
For the moment, at least, Hackett has no plans to re-enter politics and will focus instead on his private law practice.
But, he said, he is proud of what he has accomplished over the past 11 months.
"I've had people like (former Nebraska senator and Vietnam veteran) Bob Kerrey tell me that they believe I changed the course of the debate over Iraq," Hackett said. "I got thousands of people involved in politics who probably never would have been. I inspired 56 other veterans around the country to run for office. Give me credit - I've accomplished something."
http://www.theolympian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060217/NEWS01/60217009/1006