7.12.2006
Ohio Democrats Make Nice to Unseat DeWine (WashingtonPost.com)
By Chris Cillizza
Tuesday, July 11, 2006; Page A04
Don't expect Paul Hackett to be taking any vacations with Rep. Sherrod Brown this summer, but the two Ohio Democrats have buried their differences for the fall.
Hackett, a veteran of the Iraq war who has become a favorite of liberal bloggers and the Democratic "net roots," endorsed Brown's Ohio Senate candidacy yesterday -- five months after leaving the race himself.
"Maybe I don't like every issue Sherrod Brown believes in, but we agree on 95 percent of the issues," Hackett said. "Maybe I am not going to go fishing with him, but he shares my core concerns."
Hackett's support for Brown is an about-face from some sour comments he made after dropping from the race. At the time he alleged that Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) had strong-armed him out of the contest, and he dismissed Brown as a "very liberal, Democratic, long-standing U.S. congressman." To Mother Jones magazine, he suggested that Brown might be fitted with a "dunce cap."
Hackett said his change of heart came Thursday while he was mowing his lawn. He called Brown, apologized for the way he exited the race and offered to help. The two men met in Cincinnati over the weekend to hash out the particulars of an endorsement.
National Democrats saw a public pronouncement by Hackett as essential to unifying Ohio Democrats behind Brown as he seeks to unseat Republican Sen. Mike DeWine in the fall.
(More ... Ohio Democrats Make Nice to Unseat DeWine) ¶ 08:40
Tuesday, July 11, 2006; Page A04
Don't expect Paul Hackett to be taking any vacations with Rep. Sherrod Brown this summer, but the two Ohio Democrats have buried their differences for the fall.
Hackett, a veteran of the Iraq war who has become a favorite of liberal bloggers and the Democratic "net roots," endorsed Brown's Ohio Senate candidacy yesterday -- five months after leaving the race himself.
"Maybe I don't like every issue Sherrod Brown believes in, but we agree on 95 percent of the issues," Hackett said. "Maybe I am not going to go fishing with him, but he shares my core concerns."
Hackett's support for Brown is an about-face from some sour comments he made after dropping from the race. At the time he alleged that Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) had strong-armed him out of the contest, and he dismissed Brown as a "very liberal, Democratic, long-standing U.S. congressman." To Mother Jones magazine, he suggested that Brown might be fitted with a "dunce cap."
Hackett said his change of heart came Thursday while he was mowing his lawn. He called Brown, apologized for the way he exited the race and offered to help. The two men met in Cincinnati over the weekend to hash out the particulars of an endorsement.
National Democrats saw a public pronouncement by Hackett as essential to unifying Ohio Democrats behind Brown as he seeks to unseat Republican Sen. Mike DeWine in the fall.
(More ... Ohio Democrats Make Nice to Unseat DeWine) ¶ 08:40
