Hackett's out

This distresses me. Paul Hackett has withdrawn from the Democratic Primary in Ohio to replace Sen. Mike Dewine. I recognize that Hackett was raw but that was part of the charm I found in him. His "bombthrowing" (a compliment when it was applied to Gingrich years ago) was a refreshing and something I feel the Democrats need more of.

I know nothing about Rep. Sherrod Brown, he may be a great candidate and the main priority is to defeat DeWine who seems to be one of the worst Bush toadies after my own Sen. Cornyn, but I find this disheartening. Especially in the way it apparently went down.

"This is an extremely disappointing decision that I feel has been forced on me," said Mr. Hackett, whose announcement comes two days before the state's filing deadline for candidates. He said he was outraged to learn that party leaders were calling his donors and asking them to stop giving and said he would not enter the Second District Congressional race.

"For me, this is a second betrayal," Mr. Hackett said. "First, my government misused and mismanaged the military in Iraq, and now my own party is afraid to support candidates like me.".....

"Hackett is seen by many as a straight talker, and he became an icon to the liberal bloggers because he says exactly what they have wished they would hear from a politician," Ms. Duffy said. "On the other hand, the Senate is still an exclusive club, and the party expects a certain level of decorum that Hackett has not always shown."

Mr. Hackett was widely criticized last year for using indecent language to describe President Bush. Last month, state Republicans attacked Mr. Hackett for saying their party had been hijacked by religious extremists who he said "aren't a whole lot different than Osama bin Laden."

Though Republicans called for an apology, Mr. Hackett repeated the mantra of his early campaign: "I said it. I meant it. I stand behind it."

But the DSCC still supports Lieberman. You don't get rid of this kind of politician, you use him to work with his base. The Republicans don't trot out crazy religious Brownback to a broad national audience, but they use him to appeal to a small but significant percentage of their base who believe the world is only 8,000 years old.

You tanked an honest man. And that sucks.

UPDATE: A little more from the Hackett statement.

Thus ends my 11 month political career. Although it is an overused political cliche, I really will be spending more time with my family, something I wasn't able to do because my service to country in the political realm continued after my return from Iraq. Perhaps my wonderful wife Suzi said it best after we made this decision when she said "Honey, welcome home." I really did marry up.

Yeah, we sure don't want guys like this in office.