I just got the following email from MoveOn - looks like Paul Hackett is thinking of taking on Mike DeWine next year. My apologies if this has already been diaried.
More after the jump...
Dear MoveOn member,
In a matter of weeks, Ohio voters will go to the polls to vote on initiatives that would reform Ohio election law--fixing many of the problems from 2004--and set in place a non-partisan plan to draw congressional districts that could swing as many as six seats to Democrats.
At the same time, Paul Hackett, the Democratic Iraq war vet who nearly won a solidly Republican district in a special election, is considering taking on weak Republican Sen. Mike DeWine from Ohio in 2006. Hackett's on the fence, but we can help convince him to jump into the race by building a fund he can utilize as soon as he announces his candidacy.
This week is crucial to both campaigns. Help take back Ohio today. Please donate $25, $50, $100 or more to Reform Ohio Now and Paul Hackett at:
If Hackett doesn't run, your contribution to his race will simply be refunded to you.
Paul Hackett is a terrific candidate. He opposed the Iraq war from the start but answered the call of duty and served. Hackett believes we need to "bring the war in Iraq to a swift and secure resolution,"1 and he has criticized the "chickenhawks" in the White House--those who are "not willing to fight the fight of their...generation, and speak brashly and with unnecessary bravado when they're sending...other folks' sons and daughters off to war."2 Sending him to the Senate would be a strong rebuke to the Bush Administration's war policy--and we'd be one seat closer to a majority.
What will it take to get Hackett into the Senate race? He will be looking at DeWine's war chest as of this week's fundraising deadline (DeWine had $3 million in June) and assessing how much he himself can raise. So, this week is critical. Do your part to encourage Hackett and contribute now--when you do, you can also send him a note saying why you hope he'll run.
As we learned last fall, how Ohio elections are run matters to all of us. Reform Ohio Now, a coalition of 40 local groups, has put four terrific amendments on the ballot this November--real, common-sense reforms to take Ohio back from the politicians who have failed. Under these measures:
Ohio voters would no longer need to wait in hours-long lines to vote since anyone could vote by mail.
Never again would we see a situation like 2004 where Ken Blackwell, the Secretary of State, oversaw the elections while he ran Bush's Ohio campaign. An impartial, bipartisan board would be in charge.
Campaign finance limits would stop corporate money from dominating state elections.
Best of all, a former Republican president of the Ohio Senate predicts the redistricting measure, if approved, could cost Republicans in Ohio 6 of their 12 seats in Congress.3
Reform Ohio Now is opposed by politicians eager to maintain the status quo and Christian conservatives whose leader sees his efforts as "a battle between the forces of righteousness and the hordes of hell."4 These opponents have vowed to raise several million dollars to run TV ads against the measures--their ads may start any day now, so your help today is critical. You can contribute to Reform Ohio Now, as well as Paul Hackett, at:
Reform Ohio Now
Click here to donate:
Donate to Hackett
Thank you very much for your support.
Sincerely,
-Eli, Adam, Marika, Wes and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
September 27th, 2005
P.S. Hackett doesn't have a current website, since he hasn't yet entered the Senate race, though you can read more about him at http://www.actblue.com/list/hackett. You can learn more about Reform Ohio Now at http://www.ReformOhioNow.org.
Sources:
1 http://www.actblue.com/list/hackett
2 Hardball, 7/28/05
3 The New York Times, 9/7/05, reposted at http://www.reformohionow.org/news.jsp?news_item_KEY=1727
4 USA Today, 8/2/05
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