This is from Hackett's Website... it about sums it up...
Hackett's Withdrawal a sad day for Dems
By George Wood
The withdrawal of Paul Hackett from the race for U.S. Senate is a loss for Democrats in Ohio and nationwide. We've lost a voice that spoke clearly for the things we claim to value as a party. We've lost a leader who actually volunteered to fight in Iraq--and came home to oppose the war. We've lost a Democrat who was willing to say what he ment and stick by it, no matter how the spin doctors and press secretaries tried to spin it.
Hackett's withdrawal is wrong on so many counts, and right on only one.
It was wrong for the leadership of the Democratic Party to first back Hackett and then pressure him out of the race. When no one else would take on Mike DeWine the Democratic leadership asked Paul, fresh from his amazing and largely unassisted (until the last two weeks) run in Ohio's 2nd. Just as when he went to Iraq, just as when he stepped up in the 2nd, he stepped up again. And that was fine, until a party insider suddenly saw an opening. Then Hackett became an road barrier, not a loyal volunteer, who was pushed out of the way.
It is wrong to make commitments to someone and then, when a supposedly more attractive option comes along, go back on your word. And it is wrong not to bring new blood into our Party, a Party that has not won a state-wide election in recent memory. Look around at the Republicans, lots of fresh faces and new ideas--we can't say the same thing for our party.
It is wrong for party insiders to deny Ohioians the opportunity to choose who they want to run to represent us. From what I read, party insiders encouraged funders not to support the Hackett campaign. I thought I was part of a democratic party, not a politbureau. A primary fight is not a bad thing, it works, always has, it energizes the base, gets names out in public. It did not hurt Arlen Spector over in Penn., instead it educated him on what his base thought he was missing. But for us in Ohio, well the party leadership has decided that it is not up to us, but up to them.
And it is wrong to shut down one of the most refreshing voices we have heard in the party in a long time. I did not agree with everything Paul Hackett had to say, and I told him so when I disagreed and agreed. But he was willing not to be herded around by spin-doctors and consultants. He said it was unAmerican to oppose equal rights for gays, he said we needed to bring the troops home, he said we need to dump NCLB, he pointed out that the extreme right was riding high inside the Republican Party. And when pollsters and pundits tried to get him to soften the rhetoric it was always pretty simple--I said it, I mean it. Funny, seems that saying what you mean works for the Republicans, why can't it work for us?
There is only one thing right about Hackett's withdrawal, that would be the way the candidate himself played it. Unlike too many others in the party he is a team player, and when it became clear the team did not want him, he stepped aside. Unlike other politicians, he honored his word to those who are running in the 2nd and refused to jump in at the last minute and push them out. He left like he came in, with his head high and his integrity intact.
I hope there is one more right to come out of this as well. While Hack gets some well-deserved face time with the family who so willingly gave him to serve in Iraq and to serve our Party, I hope he finds a way to be a voice in our Party. Thanks, Hack, its been a great ride.