I realize that Paul Hackett became something of a cult hero when DailyKos and the progressive blogosphere decided to climb on board his bandwagon, but his lack of knowledge on basic issues after 12 months of campaigning for one office or another, and the insenstitivity that he showed regarding immigration should give progressive bloggers pause to rethink their stance on Hackett.
There's a big difference between supporting a conservative Democrat like Hackett, running in a Republican congressional district against an uber-conservative Republican, and supporting that same candidate in a race for U.S. Senate in a Democratic Primary against a Democrat with very strong progressive credentials, as is the case in Hackett's race against Ohio Congressman, Sherrod Brown.
Let's remember for a moment that Brown has been a vocal critic of the Iraq war; he's been a very vocal opponent of American free trade policies; and that he's been a strong voice for labor in the U.S. Congress.
And though we shouldn't pick candidates based on their polling numbers, we shouldn't ignore polling either, so let's also consider that a recent poll by Zogby, and published in the WSJ and picked up by the Akron Beacon Journal shows that Brown is leading incumbant Mike DeWine by 41% to 37%. An earlier poll, commissioned by Brown's campaign showed him leading Hackett 55% - 22%
Finally, let's at least pause to consider the conclusion Joe Klein's piece on this race in Time Magazine:
Brown was quite the opposite of Hackett on the stump: he asked people questions about their lives, listened carefully to their answers--and answered their questions, about unsexy issues like the Medicare prescription-drug plan, in detail and with respect. Many of those people were unemployed or about to be. There was a real intimacy with the candidate, whom they called Sherrod. It was the most basic sort of politics--an unintended reproach to political professionals who tend to fall for flashy war heroes, and to flashy war heroes who insult the public by thinking they can run for office without taking the issues seriously in a dead-serious time.
I'm not saying that people should abandon ship from Hackett after supporting him in his congressional race, but I would strongly encourage people to take a close look at both Hackett and Brown before deciding whom to support.