Friends,
Ann Driscoll at MyDD has created a petition form we can use to let Hackett know we've got his back and want him to run, regardless of Sherrod Brown's 12th Hour conversion.
You can sign it here:
http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/runhackett06/
Reasons you should after the flip.
As everyone here knows by now, Brown turned down entreaties to run for months on end and apparently told Hackett he was out, before Hackett met with Harry Reid and finally agreed to take on DeWine:
Hackett's advisor Michael Brautigam on Sherrod Brown's about face:
"He (Brown) did that when he firmly committed to the race, right after Brown looked him in the eye, and said, 'I'm not running. Good luck,' " said Brautigam. "Politicians who shake someone's hand, look a person in the eye and say one thing and then do exactly the opposite is what's wrong with politics in America today."
In his excellent diary, "Ohio -- The Not-So-Swing State", Pounder explains why it is Hackett, not Brown who has the MUCH better chance of unseating DeWine:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/7/175956/366
Basically, it is "Reagan Democrats" who control the balance of power in Ohio. Now who are they more likely to go for: the gun-totin' Marine major recently back from Iraq who's willing to tell it like it is (and who almost won in Ohio's "reddest" Congressional district, doing especially well in rural areas), or the longtime politician representative of a liberal Ohio district who lost statewide to Taft (who even Republicans don't like) in his last Ohio-wide race?
I think there are thousands like me who supported Hackett with time and money in August who would be willing to do so again. Brown's "flip-flop" smells of the worst kind of political opportunism (he only decides to run after a poll comes out showing that Hackett -- not Brown -- is favored over DeWine). Those who say Brown is the better candidate because he has "institutional support" (as one poster on MyDD put it) make no sense to me: given the Ohio Democratic Party's consistent record of failure over the past several years, this would seem to be a point AGAINST Brown!
When I signed the petition, I wrote that Hackett needs to make this race about the heart and soul of the Ohio Democratic Party: the losing ways of running the same network of unsuccessful "approved" candidates vs. new blood that can actually appeal to those not already on board with the Party and the progressive agenda. So far, NOBODY has made the case that Brown is more likely to sway those voters. All his supporters talk about is his voting record (which DeWine will wrap around his neck in some cases) and all his MONEY and support from the current Party Hacks in Ohio and Washington.
This is a perfect test for the old way of doing business (campaign war chest, institutional support, "big money" sources) vs. OUR People-Powered way of winning. Who's in with me? Please sign the petition and tell Paul we've got his back!
http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/runhackett06/