Friday, February 17, 2006
ON THE SIDE. . .
This and that from the world of Valley politics.
HE BAILED OUT: Apparently Paul couldn't hack it on the statewide level.
Paul Hackett, a suburban Cincinnati lawyer and Iraq war veteran, withdrew a few days ago from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.
Hackett said the same national Democratic leaders who begged him to run for the seat in the summer told his top donors to stop giving him money.
Hackett chose to run when national Democrats failed to convince three U.S. House members to run for the job. But one of those House members -- U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown of Avon, D-13th -- changed his mind and is running for the job.
It looked like it would be an interesting primary pitting a longtime politician against a rising star who didn't fear the establishment.
Instead, Hackett caved in to the establishment and is walking away from politics.
The decision pleases Brown as well as Democrats on the state and national level who support the congressman and didn't want to see an expensive campaign.
The decision also pleases Republicans on the state and national level who believed Hackett was a more dangerous challenge to U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, the GOP incumbent, than Brown.
The decision also caught several of Hackett's campaign officials off-guard as the candidate told The New York Times he was getting out of the race before letting them know.
skolnick@vindy.com