When it became clear that Paul Hackett was going to drop out of the race I was shocked. I live in Central Ohio and just that day I had signed a petition to get him on the ballot. I didn't think much of Brown as he reminded me of an old style Dem: the kind that has done everything right but is as exciting as melba toast with mayo. Brown will be a decent Dem, but he, like so many other Dems, runs the risk of boredom... a risk I wish we can no longer afford to take in states like Ohio, which is split 50/50 as far as the population goes.
Hackett on the other hand was spitfire. He punched back with an immediacy and a fire that not only us Dems in Ohio reacted to, but the media did as well. His charisma and good looks made for free media coverage. And his personality may seem off-the-cuff to some, but to bloggers, local and national news, this is an assett. True, Brown has better on-the-ground ties, but Hackett spoke to many of us who are doing the dirty work of discourse generation and everyday-online organizing. Hackett was one of the first person since Dean that generated that Buzz. And, yes, that Buzz can't win you an election, but it can put you over the top.
So let's say it for the billionth time: the difference between the GOP and the Dems is that the GOP knows that it takes organization AND communication skills to make it all work. And the reason is clear: all things being equal on the organizational level, effective communication tactics and strategies can win the day for the middle who doesn't quite get it. Put bluntly: I will vote Brown, any Ohio Dem reading this will vote Brown, but our neighbor who claims he or she is an independent, puts his or her Flag up outside her house on major holidays and believes that the we are a nation of good intentions... well, who knows? The pithy, charismatic candidate has a better chance at getting that person than the complex communicator.
None of this is new. We should know by now that Dems must IMMEDIATELY counterattack within a news cycle any "Swift Boat/Willie Horton" maneuver that the GOP funded PR machine generates. We should have learned that from watching The War Room in the early 1990s. But it's even more important in an era where daily news cycles feel like an eternity and the only thing that cust through all of the information is to generate free, buzzworthy media. And that buzz is generated only by extra-ordinary people. Hackett fit that mold not because he is smarter, stronger or a better politician. Rather, he spoke to a contemporary issue in a manner that is counterintuitive. It was an unordinary narrative that an Iraqi vet would be willing to run against the party or the President.
Indeed, this counter-narrative is what generated a Buzz about Bush Jr: he claimed to be a "compassionate conservative" and the press in 2000 treated him with kid gloves AND gave him enough free press to put him over... well, almost (don't want to rehash Florida here). Indeed, it was his countering "expectations" of being an inept debater/public speaker that really did the trick. The result was a positive "buzz" and it is the sort of thing that is more and more necessary to sway the middle. With Hackett I felt like we would win and now with Brown that we could win. One is inevitable, the other one isn't and the difference for loyal Dems is palpable.