Rep. Sherrod Brown: Paul Hackett should run for Senate if I don't

[Kolesar]

This is very widely-written Plain Dealer article about Ohio politics in general. These are the first names I have heard for a Democrat to run against second term republican senator Mike (Mike Who?) Dewine.

excerpt:
Already, Democrats have wondered whether Hackett in 2006 could pose a challenge to Republican Sen. Mike DeWine.

Last week, Rep. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Avon, told Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid that Hackett might be a good candidate if Brown himself decides not to run for the Senate seat.
...snip...
They also hint of Tim Ryan, D-17 running for Senate. He was in the General Assembly before winning a seat in Congress. The 17th is a safe seat for Dems if he leaves.

[ibegurpard]

1. Why is he a good candidate only if Sherrod Brown decides not to run?

Perhaps he would be a BETTER candidate than Sherrod Brown.

[jmaier]

2. LOL

Do you expect Brown to tell Reid that Hackett is a much better candidate than he is himself?!?

Basically, with Brown's comments and Strickland's recent remarks, I'd say that Hackett is being signalled as the choice UNLESS Tim Ryan announces. Frankly, I'd like Ryan to challenge DeWine -- I think that he would win. Hackett would be good but with his inexperience the outcome would be much more in doubt.

[OhioBlue]

3. I want Hackett

Don't get me wrong, I like Brown. I'm not that familiar with Ryan. But Hackett.... There is that spark, that inspiration, that I'll devote myself to his campaign kinda feeling. I would work for either of the congressmen as well, but not with the passion that I would for Hackett. I realize that Hackett doesn't have the experience, but I would love for Hackett and the Dems to take a chance.

[safi0]

4. Prior to Hackett's emergence

I talked to some friends who are much more knowledgable about Ohio politics than me and they told me that if Sherrod Brown chooses not to run Ryan would announce his candidacy within 24 hours. With Hackett I don't know how much this will effect that. My guess is that the DSCC will do some polling on a Hackett-Dewine race and he'll make his choice partially based on that.

Overall this is great news. Dewine has the lowest approval rating of any senator up for re-election in 06 and it seems almost certain that either Brown, Hackett, or Ryan will run against Dewine. No matter which of the 3 ends up against him Dewine will get a top flight opponent

[OhioBlue]

5. That is interesting

But, I don't like that fact that the decision for Hackett would be based on polling. Many Ohio voters don't know Hackett. Polling would be misleading. I really believe in a heads up between Hackett and DeWine, with a well funded Hackett race, Hackett would be the best candidate.

[safi0]

6. I said partially

The thing is though neither Sherrod Brown or Tim Ryan have huge name recognition. Brown a little more, but I'm willing to bet outside his district, Ryan has just as much name recognition as Hackett

[roseBudd]

7. Hackett has more name recognition than any of the other candidates

Thanks to all the attention his campaign got.

[Emops]

8. I think a Hackett for Senate campaign

could cause the same kind of grassroots support that Wesley Clark got. Brown and Ryan- as good as candidates as they may turn out to be- just won't inspire the same kind of passion.

[LynneSin]

9. I just posted this in GDP - I think Hackett is the best choice to win

He proved that democrats could win in a strong republican district. No repuke has won that district with less than 10% since back in the 70's and Hackett came within 4%.

Ohio needs a candidate who can run strong in those repuke regions of the state in order to win back that state. I know Brown & Ryan are decent guys but will they inspire people to get out the vote and could they keep the margin of a distict like Oh-2 within 5%?

Hackett is the choice if Democrats want to win Ohio

[OhioBlue]

10. I agree completely.

I think both Brown and Ryan are "good" candidates. But, I think Hackett is that breath of fresh air, the inspirational candidate that will definitely get the swing voters. The swing voters probably laugh at him calling * a SOB and Rush a fat-assed drug addict. Only the hard core Repukes will be offended. I don't know Ryan that well, and I LOVE Brown, but I think he can definitely be portrayed as "too Liberal" and take some swing voters away. I think a GREAT campaign could be formed around Hackett. i also know my gun loving kin and friends - some voted Dem, some voted Repuke, some didn't vote. I really don't know but a couple hardliners that couldn't be persuaded to vote for Hackett. As long as he maintains a message of strong working class and articulates the benefits that Unions - while still acknowledging that Unions have to work toward a common goal, etc. have played in society, he will be awesome to watch and work for.

[existentialist]

11. Obviously the choice of candidate is for Ohio Democrats to make

but I was inspired enough by Hackett to donate, and would again if I am at all able to do so.

This does not mean that I might not donate to some other Democratic Ohio Senate candidate. I might, but I do find Hackett to be an inspiring breath of fresh air.

[existentialist]

12. Just pulled this off of the Daily Kos

OH-Sen: DeWine to face primary challenger
by kos
Tue Aug 16th, 2005 at 18:07:03 PDT
Already facing low poll numbers, an ethically challenged Ohio Republican Party, and the prospect of a strong Democratic challenger, DeWine can add another problem to his list: a primary challenger.



Former AK Steel Corp. President John Hritz plans to challenge U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, for the Senate seat he has held for a decade.

Hritz said he has formed an exploratory committee to look into the feasibility of running against DeWine, who is from Cedarville, for the Republican nomination in the primary election in May 2006, according to a press release Tuesday.



Whether we get Sherrod Brown, Tim Ryan, or Paul Hackett, DeWine is in a world of trouble.

[mosin]

13. Music

DeWine is in a world of trouble.

Music to my ears.

As an aside, I'm hoping Tim Ryan gets to carry the ball.

[Hippo_Tron]

14. Okay, Sherrod Brown needs to make up his fucking mind

Most challengers announced their intentions to run months ago. He seems to be the clear favorite to take on DeWine, so all eyes are on him. He needs to announce or he needs to step aside and let Hackett or Ryan step up. Hackett has to decide whether he is going to do another tour in Iraq or not. He can't wait around for Brown to make up his mind.

[safi0]

15. Well Sherrod Brown

Made up his fucking mind and has decided that he won't run. I would have preferred to see him run but hes a ranking member on some committee and if we take back the House he'll be that committee's chairman. This leaves us with 2 potential top-flight candidates in Tim Ryan and Hackett. I predicted if Brown chose not to run Ryan would, let's see if I'm correct.

[Algorem]

16. "Sitting out: U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, who recently said he was consider-

ing "pretty strongly" a bid for the U.S. Senate next year, will not run.

An influential member of the minority party, the Democrat told close advisers and congressional leaders this week that he will pass on a battle with Republican Sen. Mike DeWine.

"I love what I'm doing in Congress," Brown said, adding he will devote his time to campaigning for colleague and Ohio gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland."

http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/opinion/112435791971540.xml?ocnay&coll=2

[Blue Dawg]

17. Hakcett should run with Strickland...

…for Lieutenant Governor, I’d love to see a Senator Hackett, but at the moment he’s just too inexperienced a campaigner to go up against DeWine.

As Strickland’s running mate, he adds some “pizzazz” to the ticket both inspiring the Democrat Base and presenting an impressive personal narrative to the ticket… he also would get valuable experience and be set up for a future run for office. What’s more Strickland seems to be pretty impressed with the guy and I think a Strickland/ Hackett ticket is a real possibility.

As for the Senate Race, Ryan would take DeWine to task and how! He’s a populist Dem with a solid voting record on Defence but he’s been attacking the administration hard for its handling of the war in Iraq, he’s also a clever political operator and can give a darn good stump speech.

For those who don’t know him I’ll include this…

http://homepage.mac.com/njenson/movies/timryanlow.html

…as with Rep. Gene Taylor, its another case of a Moderate Democrat, tearing into the administration with real gusto, seems to be becoming a pretty common occurrence these days :D

[safi0]

18. Ryan is leaning

Against running, I highly doubt we'll see both run for Senate. As for Lt. Gov. I strongly disagree with running him for a state position instead of a national position. As Gov. or Lt. Gov., his biggest assett, his anti-war voice, would be all but silenced

[Blue Dawg]

19. Might have a piont...

...about Hackett's war record being a silent trumpet in a state race. But I still think its too soon for him to run for Senate. LtGov, would be the perfect launch pad for any future race, he's also got to become more than simply a credible anti-war voice with 0 experiance.

Ryan has said that, though he seems to be shying away from his previous statments of late, the NRA has said that against DeWine they'd endorse him and lots of DNC "Big Wigs" are pressuring him to run... he'd run a good race and IMHO would probably win, Hackett is less of a certianty and i really feel needs more experaince.

Hackett should make the mistake of John Edwards and over reach, in many ways a Hackett run for Senate would be an even bigger gambel than Edwards in the 2004 race. It should also be a warning to Mark Warner.

[safi0]

20. Its funny you mention

John Edwards because he when he ran for Senate in 98 he had even less experience than Hackett if he runs for Senate and Edwards was victorious in that race. I don't necessarily think lack of experience hurts him as much as some other candidates because it contributes to his: "I'm a straight shooting regular guy" image.

[mosin]

21. Hackett's experience

I like Hackett, but I have to agree with Blue Dawg. I question whether Hackett is ready to run a statewide Senate campaign.

As an example, during the run-up to the special election in OH-2, Hackett made several anti-war/anti-Bush statements that play well with us on DU, but would not play well in a purple state like Ohio. The comments got essentially no air play here locally and very little coverage nationally. Both candidates completely ignored them in their advertising. In fact, Hackett ran patriotic-themed ads with a voice-over from Bush and no mention of his position against the war at all. And the Rep candidate ignored Hackett entirely in her ads, while she was beaten up from the right by the libertarian Club for Growth urging Republicans to stay home and not vote. That's why Hackett did so well in a very conservative district. Hackett wouldn't get off so easily in a statewide race against DeW(h)ine. DeW(h)ine would run clips of Hackett's comments over and over.

And before anyone gets on my case, I'm not criticizing the substance of Hackett's statements. It's just not politically smart in Ohio to call the president an SOB and claim that he's a bigger threat to American than Osama Bin Laden. That kind of rhetoric doesn't play well in Peoria.

[Blue Dawg]

22. Agree, but...

...I think that Hackett is destined for greater things, a spot as Lt.Gov would place him perfectly IMHO for future runs and give him the experience and credentials he really needs.

[safi0]

23. Hackett's whole appeal

Was that he was an Iraq War veteran who came back and was criticizing the war, and his stances on other issues weren't anything special. As far as Strickland's Lt. Gov I think he should pick a State Senator or a mayor of some place. Hackett's biggest assett his anti-war voice would be basically silenced as Lt. Gov.

[mosin]

25. Hackett

I agree that Hackett has great potential. He has the intelligence, the charm, the resume, and the public presence to make a name for himself in politics. (Not to mention that his pro-gun rights stance removes one of the big wedge issues for Republicans.)

He just needs to learn to tone down his rhetoric in a statewide race in a purple state.

Lieutenant governor has usually been a dead-end in Ohio, but that's not written in stone. On the Republican side, the Petro/Heimlich ticket is clearly an attempt to set up Heimlich for a run down the road (in addition to capitalizing on Heimlich's popularity in southwest Ohio). It would be up to the governor to give the lieutenant a visible role.

[safi0]

26. That could be a difficult balancing

Act. I personally think his rhetoric is fine, but who's to say that wouldn't hurt his ticket in the Gov. race

[mosin]

27. Balancing

I don't think it's that tough a balancing act. It's not the content of his statements that could get him in trouble, it was the tone and choice of words. He can say that the war has been a colossal blunder from the beginning, from to the looting to the missing WMD's to the insurgency. He can criticize Bush's performance as CnC. He just shouldn't call him an SOB or say that he's more dangerous than Bin Laden. Depending on your district, you can get away with that in a House race, but you can't when running for president or senate.

[safi0]

28. His House district

Was the most conservative in Ohio

[mosin]

29. I know...

I live next door in OH-1, literally yards from OH-2. My comment in the last post had nothing to do with Hackett's district in particular. There are House districts where you can get away with inflammatory rhetoric. I didn't mean to imply that OH-2 was one of them.

As I said earlier, Paul was fortunate that his two rhetorical excesses got no play in the local media. He did so well in OH-2 because he ran a very smart and very conservative-looking media campaign capitalizing on his military service and his opponent's ties to tax increases and Republican scandals in Columbus. Paul's commercials featured a voice-over from Bush about military service, flying flags, and even criticisms of his opponent from the libertarian Club for Growth. The idea that some have on DU that Paul aggressively campaigned on an anti-war/anti-Bush platform was belied by the visible reality of his campaign on the ground. The truth is, Paul ran the only campaign he could in OH-2 and have a chance.

[Hippo_Tron]

30. Hackett got 48% in bible thumper country with his anti-war statements...

Ohio is FAR more blue than the 2nd district.

[mosin]

31. Anti-war statements

My point is that no one in "bible thumper country" down here heard his anti-war statements! Paul (wisely) didn't run a visibly anti-war campaign. His commercials were very conservative in tone. He used a voice-over from Pres. Bush. He talked about his belief in service. He criticized his opponent for supporting tax increases and tied her to the scandals in Columbus. He even quoted criticisms of his opponent from the libertarian Club for Growth. Ask anyone who actually lives down here. That is why he got 48% of the vote.

[Hippo_Tron]

32. The voice-over commercial slammed Bush

And I have no problem with Hackett "selling" himself as a conservative considering that we know who he really is. If he did such a good job of selling himself this way, why would it be any different in a statewide race?

[Kolesar]

33. That was a very informative pair of posts, #29 and #31 ... eom

[OzarkDem]

24. Sherrod isn't running for Senate

He announced it recently on his Grow Ohio.org web site.

Visit and take the straw poll to vote for your favorite Ohio Senate candidate.

http://www.growohio.org/story/2005/8/17/201241/723