Call me a pessimist, but Hackett's loss is a sad statement on this country

[T Roosevelt]

Here voters were presented with a choice between a corrupt hack and a military veteran, and they chose corruption. I'm not into moral victories...yes, he did better than anticipated. But this should have been a landslide for him, not a squeak for corruption.

The only silver lining I take from this that fewer people selected party over country than normally would have.

[mtnester]

1. "He did better than anticipated.."

If you are from Ohio you would understand this was a damn MIRACLE in this part of the state.

Double digit swings in one area of the state. All we need is a 2.2 swing in the Entire state to get our candidate in the WH.


Get on board.

[T Roosevelt]

9. Like I said, a moral victory

Did he do well? Yes. Did the voters choose a corrupt hack over a military veteran. Yes. I find no comfort in that.

[mtnester]

13. Big picture

It's the big picture, and since we have not even had a moral victory in a while, I will take it with the big picture in mind.

IMO, this confirms all the "I overheard a conversation while I was waiting in line at the grovery store" threads of the climate out there. It should give us confidence and JUSTIFICATION for the message of the Dems....

stay the course :P

[Swamp Rat]

2. The rethuglicans stole the election using reptilian Witchcraft!

... and Diebold computers.

I will never believe the outcome of an election again until we go back to paper.

[Kelvin Mace]

5. Actually,

I believe they were using ES&S optical scan system with paper ballots.

That said, there is some issues about undervotes that need to be looked at:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=387127&mesg_id=387127

We should not be complacent.

[Swamp Rat]

8. Ahh yes. Doesn't Chuck Hagel own a controlling share of ES&S? n/t

[Kelvin Mace]

14. He did at one time, don't know if he still does

But the point is, there are paper ballots and my understanding is a lot were hand-counted, which to me means it wouldn't be out of line to do some spot checking in Clermont Co.

[katinmn]

10. I agree. I won't trust any election until we have verifiable paper

It is more than suspicious that Schmidt's county machines went down and they had to resort to hand counting. What did we expect from that witch?

Nice depiction of the newest reptilian to join Congress!

[Cocoa]

3. but we already knew that

before the election, we already knew the sad state of politics, for example we knew that people voted for the worst president ever in 2004.

Hackett's near win shows that things might finally be improving.

[sidwill]

6. Hacketts experience will only help us if

The Dems nominate Wesley Clark. Just like Hackett, Clark is a guy who can pull some people over from the BUsh voting block while retaining the traditional democratic base.

[Kelvin Mace]

4. Yes, I agree with you

This country is divided into three major camps: Those who think, those who let other people think for them, and those who can't be bothered one way of the other.

It is an uphill battle. The richer you are, the less you are affected by the policies of the stupid/ignorant/greedy folk who make up BushCo.

Clermont Co. is a rich GOP stronghold. Rich people's children are not going to war, are not suffering from job loss, have excellent health care, and are getting richer thanks to tax cuts. If their women get pregnant, they will get an abortion from a private clinic, even if they have to go to Canada. In short, George W. Bush and his ilk are their god.

The next major focus should be on destroying the corrupt GOP machine in Ohio. Schmidt is dirty and should be tops on the list.

Hackett lost by 3,573 votes. If his supporters could have gotten 5 extra voters per precint, he would have one.

[Inland]

7. Moral victories MUST become electoral victories, plain and simple. nt

[kodi]

11. i learned a long time ago that most folks were idiots.

.

[iconoclastic cat]

12. You're a pessimist. See my post in the next few minutes and you'll see

what I see.

Here's my post:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1981433