Paul Hackett, an Iraq war veteran and popular Democratic candidate in Ohio's closely watched Senate contest, said yesterday that he was dropping out of the race and leaving politics altogether as a result of pressure from party leaders.

Mr. Hackett said Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Harry Reid of Nevada, the same party leaders who he said persuaded him last August to enter the Senate race, had pushed him to step aside so that Representative Sherrod Brown, a longtime member of Congress, could take on Senator Mike DeWine, the Republican incumbent.

Mr. Hackett staged a surprisingly strong Congressional run last year in an overwhelmingly Republican district and gained national prominence for his scathing criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq War. It was his performance in the Congressional race that led party leaders to recruit him for the Senate race.

But for the last two weeks, he said, state and national Democratic Party leaders have urged him to drop his Senate campaign and again run for Congress.

"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."

Mr. Hackett was the first Iraq war veteran to seek national office, and the decision to steer him away from the Senate race has surprised those who see him as a symbol for Democrats who oppose the war but want to appear strong on national security.

"Alienating Hackett is not just a bad idea for the party, but it also sends a chill through the rest of the 56 or so veterans that we've worked to run for Congress," said Mike Lyon, executive director for the Band of Brothers, a group dedicated to electing Democratic veterans to national office. "Now is a time for Democrats to be courting, not blocking, veterans who want to run."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/po...faf616&ei=5070


There was a piece on the Today Show where a democratic party representative explicitly stated that Paul Hackett was not a desirable candidate because he spoke his mind and wouldn't bow to "advice" from the democratic party.

Pressuring him to bow out BEFORE the primary???
That's just crap!

Granted, the Today Show often edits things into whatever light is most comedic (or for other effects), but there was a portion of the segment where the representative was saying how it was a good thing that the Republican party was having problems because it helped make the Democrats look better.
Yeah. Party slogan: "Don't ask us about capability to lead. Just remember we're not as bad as them..."

The interviewer had a good analogy about being beaten up by a drunk guy with a beer bottle, and feeling a little better after the drunk guy accidentally hit himself with the beer bottle once...
I don't know if the democratic representative got it...

It's times like this that leave me saying, "Democratic party? There is a reason you're losing! You're too concerned with opposing the republicans and hoping they look bad to actually THINK that maybe you should just win because you could give America BETTER LEADERS"
<looks frustratedly for the middle finger smiley icon...>