Dean says to "run for office." Party leaders say they pick who runs.

[madfloridian]

That is what this is really all about. It is not about Brown or Hackett or Cegelis or Mahoney (the millionaire Republican running in Florida at the request of the state chair and Rahm)...it is about why in the world would anyone run for office now?

The two philosophies are directly in opposition. They are making sure that the party does NOT basically change by deciding primaries for us.

I just donated to the DNC again because I like the way Howard Dean says to run for office. It has a sense of empowerment to it. There should be a sense of empowerment in America. We should not have to beg and plead for that.

Frankly the Ohio race is not one I even had an opinion on. I really did not. But this illustrates so well what is truly going on.

There can NOT be change in the party if regular people can not even get traction because of party congressional leader actions.

[400Years]

1. I totally agree and notice how the apologists here turned on Hackett

and started attacking him personally.

They know why this is an issue but they don't really want to address it or even let others address it.

[FreedomAngel82]

3. So telling

him to stand up and fight is attacking? I'm disappointed he didn't tell them to fuck off and stay in the fight. Malloy read last night an article from Ohio on Hackett where he was saying he wasn't going anywhere and than he totally turned his position. :shrug:

[400Years]

15. I've seen examples of name calling and more

right after their illustrious leaders made it clear to Hackett that not only would he have to fight against the republicans but against the democratic party machinery as well.

Would you run under these conditions?

[madfloridian]

4. Yes, the attacks on Hackett are increasing now.

I am sad about that.

[mzmolly]

9. The attacks are not limited to Hackett. I'm sad about that too,

but we have threads here "attacking" Democrats daily. It's nothing new.

[FreedomAngel82]

2. I agree

The voters should decide who is going to be their represenitive. The whole thing just stinks.

[crispini]

5. Yeah, "run for office," I agree.

School board. City Council. State House. State Senate. Transportation Board. There are a thousand races where we should ALL be getting involved, learning about our government, and getting our feet wet with the political process, campaigning and fundraising and polishing ourselves as candidates and activists.

U.S. Senate -- that's a whole nother enchilada, IMO.

[madfloridian]

6. He was ASKED to run.

Sorry, but that is true. Brown said he was not running, so he announced. Brown announced later.

Senate is not another thing, it is part of it.

[FreedomAngel82]

8. I thought he was just encouraged?

[MrBenchley]

10. Next you'll hear he was ORDERED to run.....

[madfloridian]

14. What difference does that make?

Whether he was asked or encouraged, what does it matter?

[madfloridian]

16. Here is a snip from his interview with Ohio2nd blog.

Renee is transcribing this, and she just posted this from the interview.

On being "asked" or "encouraged" to run:

""I was, as you know, encouraged by Senator Schumer and Senator Reid to get into this race. And, you may or may not know this, their wives called my wife, and told my wife that she's got to sacrifice and that I've got to sacrifice again for my country. And those are powerful words and pleas to a guy like me."
Renee in Ohio | Homepage | 02.15.06 - 2:52 pm | #

[DancingBear]

17. I did not know this re: wives conversation

This makes me madder than I was before.

The way this was handled was wrong. Very wrong.

Run for office, until we decide you shouldn't.

Until then, pour your heart into The Democratic Party.

Disgusting.

I said it before -if Dean fails, this party is dead.

[madfloridian]

18. I am not very happy on this issue.

Before this I really had no opinion on that race at all. But this has gotten ugly. I see people here condemning Dean for speaking out, yet others were saying why wasn't he speaking out.

The sense of some people here blaming Hackett is overwhelming to me.

It is just like what has happened in other races.

[crispini]

13. A Senate race costs about 10 million dollars in my state.

A state house race costs about a hundred thousand dollars. That's an order of magnitude a hundred times larger from a state house race to a Senate race. Sure, it's part of it, but the one is like running a small business and the other is like running a large corporation.

[FreedomAngel82]

7. Right

That's how the republicans do it. Locally is how you can change things. You can change people's minds about your party and than start looking nice for presidential races (even though Kerry did win).

[Capn Sunshine]

11. Dean just spoke on this

As usual, the DC insiders are doing whatthey want, and screw the party. :grr:

MIAMI - Democratic party chair Howard Dean says he's not happy that Iraqi war veteran Paul Hackett is dropping out of the race for U-S Senate in Ohio.

Dean told a student audience in Miami that "some skulduggery in Washington" improperly led to Hackett's decision to end his bid. And he said Democrats will have a tough time winning if similar things happen to others.

Hackett was vying with Ohio congressman Sherrod Brown for the Democratic nomination. He said that Hackett was a "great candidate," and that a primary in Ohio wouldn't have hurt the party. Hackett says he's ending his eleven-month political career.

[madfloridian]

12. Now I see. We only "run for office" locally? New rule?

There are new rules just popping up all over now.

[NoFederales]

19. So is still donating $$ to the DNC a good thing; how secure is Dr. Dean?

If someone is going to cherry-pick candidates for the Dems, sort of steals grass-roots initiative doesn't it? If Howard Dean goes down, where does someone who applauded his efforts go?

NoFederales