I created a diary arguing that Hackett should run for Senate -- in fact that someone from Ohio should start a draft Hackett for Senate site -- here:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/4/224543/2874
Many people posted that he should run for a different office, so I thought a poll would be in order. Unfortunately, I screwed up in my attempt to add a poll to that diary, so I am starting this one to conduct the poll.
My arguement for why he should run for Senate below the fold.
On Al Franken's show, Hackett said he needs to think about how he can best help his buddies in Iraq.
I suggest that as a U.S. Senator, he can do a lot more to change our military and foreign policy than he could as a soldier back in Iraq (an option Hackett is weighing). I don't see at all how he helps them by running for a state office like AG or Sec of St., as others have suggested. I also don't see how his biggest asset -- his experience in the current war and his ability to call Bush, Cheney, et. al "Chickenhawks" with impugnity -- translates well to a run for an office with no foreign policy implications.
Hackett running for Senate would pay dividends for Democrats up and down the Ohio ticket. Think about all the Congressional and other statewide candidates who would get to run on the same ticket with a man who can call Bush a "Chickenhawk" and an "SOB" and get away with it! (Again, running for a purely State office will not afford him opportunities to shine a bright light on the Republicans' horrific foreign policy.)
Besides the bigger pulpit it would give Major Hackett, I think a race for Senate is now a better choice than trying to unseat the now entrenched Republican Congresswoman of the ridiculously partisan 2nd District.
I know Brown and Ryan have their champions, but no one would create the excitement among Democrats statewide (and nationwide) that Hackett would. And he can do it without generating great excitement among Republicans to want to defeat him -- in fact, he ATTRACTS veterans and rural voters who usually vote Republican!