Democrats Force Hackett to "Cut and Run" from Ohio Senate Race

I almost feel sorry for Paul Hackett. You remember Hackett. He's the Marine Iraq war vet who lost a close race against Jean Schmidt in that special congressional election in Ohio last year. Schmidt later made her claim to fame by telling Congressman Murtha on the floor of the House of Representatives that Marine's "don't cut and run."

Well, she might have been wrong to say that... for more than one reason.

Iraq vet Hackett drops out of Democratic Senate race, blames party: Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett, who gained popularity among bloggers as an alternative candidate and for his staunch criticism of Bush, has dropped out of the Democratic race for U.S. Senate in Ohio.

Hackett told The New York Times for Tuesday's editions that the same party leaders who urged him to run for Senate after his sensational political debut in a House race last year had turned on him.

'This is an extremely disappointing decision that I feel has been forced on me,' Hackett said, noting that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and New York Sen. Charles Schumer recently had asked him to withdraw.

Hackett captured Democrats' attention last summer by blasting President Bush's war policies, raising huge sums on the Internet and capturing 48 percent of the vote in one of the country's most conservative House districts. He declared his candidacy for Republican Mike DeWine's Senate seat after Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown had declined to run.

Brown changed his mind shortly after that, however, and national Democrats privately began urging Hackett to step aside. On Sunday, some national Democrats made those requests publicly.

'For me, this is a second betrayal,' Hackett said. 'First, my government misused and mismanaged the military in Iraq, and now my own party is afraid to support candidates like me.'

Gee Paul: I almost feel sorry for you. But you go and do the Bush bash in the middle of your whine and I'm looking for the cheese.

Democrats have been bragging about recruiting veterans as candidates in a bid to deflect the "weak on defense" label; the truth of which continues to haunt their electoral chances during a time of war.

Hackett is a media darling and loved by the lefty blogworms. Left with a choice between this young, attractive candidate with veteran credentials and a party hack like Congressman Brown, Democrats sided with Brown.

With friends like Reid and Schumer: who needs enemies?