Ohio 2nd Blog

Firefighters used to hand out flyers, and now FEMA restricting media access in New Orleans.

Paul Hackett made the front page of Daily Kos twice in the last few days. The fact that he is a favorite of the Kossacks is a huge plus.

• OH-Sen: The DSCC Wants Hackett
• OH-Sen: A Lot More Paul Hackett for You Junkies

If he does run I would expect the popping of champagne corks to ring out from Schmidt HQ. So far I haven’t seen any other credible threats on the horizon, but there’s still a little time left. Democrats and COAST members better start ramping up fast. While there’s a lot of heat on Capitol Hill right now, Congresswoman Schmidt is just about the only member that can honestly claim to have nothing to do with the current crisis facing the GOP in Washington. That will make it harder to find issues to use against her.

Yesterday in Eric Minamyer’s blog:

Memo to COAST

You helped create the Hackett scenario by depressing turnout. Nice move.

From The National Journal Group’s The Hotline ($$$):

DEMOCRATS: SUN, FUN AND BLOGGING!

From a release, over 300 DNC members “from across the nation are scheduled to attend the DNC’s Fall Meeting,” 9/8-10, in Phoenix, AZ. DNC chair Howard Dean and ex-Cong. candidate Paul Hackett “will address the General Session” on 9/10. A sampling of the events: 9/9, 9am-5pm, Blogging USA; 9/9 Regional meetings; 9/10 8am-9am, Rural Council (release, 8/30).

Potential politicians that might not suck

Not sucking is very important in the blogosphere.

There is something very important to be said about being real. Ross Perot was the all time master of it, IMHO. You can get alot of people behind you simply by being real.

This AP article on Hackett’s continuing presence in the media has this choice quote from Jean Schmidt campaign manager Joe Braun:

Joe Braun, Schmidt’s campaign manager, believes Hackett’s appeal would wear away over the course of a regular campaign as opposed to a special election.

“During a normal election cycle, I think voters will really start looking at his positions and that’s when his star is going to fade,” Braun said.

Ahhh… right… sure… that’s why you worked so hard to make sure that the debates were in the middle of nowhere and that there was as little media coverage as possible.

Hardball has the video up of Hackett’s apprearance. Here are my comments:

VERY solid.

Perfect for that show. Honest and he talked like a real person, not just going full tilt partisan. Came off as very mature about the situation. The way he played off of what the academic was saying was really nice. He works good with Matthews too. Gave honest answers that weren’t just talking points and Matthews loves that. As soon as you start dodging he goes in for the kill.

I’d even say statesman like, but still totally Hackett. Real. His best TV appearance yet.

I liked him talking about the importance of Bush saving face. Us partisans underestimate the importance of stuff like that. If you don’t give your opponent an out the only way they can go is through you.

As for the talk of overkill, if every appreance was like the one on Real Time goofing on Bush, than he might run a real risk. People need to be very careful going head to head against professional comedians. There’s a reason so few of them become politicians, and they love to help you tie your noose. (BTW, Phyllis Schlafly’s appearance was about as solid as I’ve ever seen anyone on that show, and this is coming from someone who is NOT a fan of hers. )

Talking like he did today about solutions and not just about it helping the Democrats and he’s on very solid ground. He has to avoid being labled as nothing but a pretty boy Bush bashing lightweight. He certainly wasn’t that last night.

His words have real weight behind them because he lived it and he can articulate it well, AND like Wesley Clark he doesn’t have the baggage of Clinton or Kerry of supporting this mess blindly. That puts him shoulders about them. If he added some talk about more general terrorism issues his voice would be very powerful. The cameras already like pointing in his direction. America’s listening.

Was the Hackett campaign’s glass almost full, or was Schmidt’s almost empty? From yesterday’s Washington Times:

Democrats believe they can be competitive again in next year’s House and Senate races and have been congratulating themselves on how well they did in a recent congressional election they narrowly lost Aug. 2. That’s where Paul Hackett, a Iraq War veteran and bitter war critic, won 48 percent of the vote in a special House race for an open seat in Ohio’s heavily Republican 2nd District.

But “Hackett’s race may well be an aberration rather than a model for the future,” independent elections analyst Stuart Rothenberg told the Capitol Hill weekly, Roll Call.

There’s no doubt Mr. Hackett was a stronger-than-expected candidate, but Republican Jean Schmidt ran a very weak campaign that had no message, and she refused to attack her opponent. “Few serious GOP candidates next year will run efforts as inept as Schmidt’s,” Mr. Rothenberg said.

The parallel between Mrs. Schmidt’s inept, barely successful campaign, and the Democratic Party’s astounding lack of overall success, should snap its leaders back to reality. At least you would think so.

I don’t think that this is very fair. Schmidt had a very clear message that she repeated every time I heard her speak. Energy policy, tax cuts such as eliminating the death tax, and supporting the President on Iraq. It just seemed to get drowned out in the Hackett media wave. Hackett is much better in front of a camera, both because of his story and because of his charisma. Schmidt didn’t stand a chance in side by side comparisons, which is why her campaign manager Joe Braun deftly avoided them as much as possible.

I also don’t think that attacking Hackett worked well for them either. The net was very good at turning a lot of the standard GOP tactics against them. The only effective attack on Hackett was made by Rush and the main reason it was so effective was because he waited until election day to make it so that any blacklash would happen after the election was over.

Here are my reasons behind what happened in the election:

• Unified Democrats
• Split Republicans
• Both campaigns being blindsided by the net
• Hackett’s strength as a candidate
• Schmidt’s weakness as a candidate
• Electorate discontent
• The Hackett campaign’s very strong ground game
• The NRCC’s underestimating the chances of any Democrat
• Rove’s Valerie Plame distractions
  There’s no way a Karl Rove on top of his game would have let that primary happen.

Luckily for Schmidt the NRCC hauled ass in the final week and managed to push her through. They deserve most of the credit for her victory. One thing I’ll say about the Washington Republicans… they are very good at adjusting their game. The Democrats seem stuck in the 60s in comparison.

Grow Ohio has a map up showing the locations for Paul Hackett’s online contributors. Amazing stuff.

Word is that Paul Hackett will be in studio on Hardball tonight. He’s becoming a regular on the show.