Mixed Results
The bad news is that Democrat Paul Hackett was defeated in his run for the House of Representatives in Ohio's 2nd District by Republican Jean Schmidt. I went to bed feeling very disappointed, even though saner minds warned that Hackett was running in a very conservative district and really had almost no chance.
The good news is that he did as well as he did. The final tally was 52% for Schmidt and 48% for Hackett. The recent history of the district emphasizes the job Hackett faced:
Portman held the seat for 12 years, consistently winning re-election with more than 70 percent of the vote.
Bush tallied 64 percent last year in the district stretching over seven counties from eastern Cincinnati suburbs to largely rural counties such as Pike and Scioto.
In other words, in a seat felt to be so safe for the GOP that Bush had no qualms about appointing the incumbent Republican to a federal post, Hackett nearly won.
I hope that the Democratic Party leadership learned some lessons from this improbable run. Here are the first three that come to my mind.
First, Howard Dean was right: we need to contest every election at every level. No more campaigning in just "battleground states." Hackett's campaign in this so-called 'safe' seat was so alarming to the national Republican Party that they wound up spending at least $500,000 to keep Schmidt's ailing campaign going. That's a half-million bucks they won't be able to spend elsewhere.
Second, the Democratic's national organization has to kick into gear earlier so that the candidate doesn't have to worry about finances when it comes to such things as polling. Hackett didn't do any polling because he felt the money he did have was better spent elsewhere. With a poll, Hackett might have discerned what was working in his campaign and what wasn't and tweaked his efforts accordingly.
Third, the national party must recognize that the grassroots power of the internets is a tremendous resource and should be accorded respect and tapped into. When the word went out to bloggers that Hackett was making some inroads, over $400,000 was raised in little more than a week, and when crunch time came, volunteers from all over the country were mobilized to do the hard work of going door to door for the candidate and working telephones to get out the vote.
Paul Hackett ran one hell of a campaign and should have won. Hopefully he will do so in two years, this time with the proper support of the Party.
The good news is that he did as well as he did. The final tally was 52% for Schmidt and 48% for Hackett. The recent history of the district emphasizes the job Hackett faced:
Portman held the seat for 12 years, consistently winning re-election with more than 70 percent of the vote.
Bush tallied 64 percent last year in the district stretching over seven counties from eastern Cincinnati suburbs to largely rural counties such as Pike and Scioto.
In other words, in a seat felt to be so safe for the GOP that Bush had no qualms about appointing the incumbent Republican to a federal post, Hackett nearly won.
I hope that the Democratic Party leadership learned some lessons from this improbable run. Here are the first three that come to my mind.
First, Howard Dean was right: we need to contest every election at every level. No more campaigning in just "battleground states." Hackett's campaign in this so-called 'safe' seat was so alarming to the national Republican Party that they wound up spending at least $500,000 to keep Schmidt's ailing campaign going. That's a half-million bucks they won't be able to spend elsewhere.
Second, the Democratic's national organization has to kick into gear earlier so that the candidate doesn't have to worry about finances when it comes to such things as polling. Hackett didn't do any polling because he felt the money he did have was better spent elsewhere. With a poll, Hackett might have discerned what was working in his campaign and what wasn't and tweaked his efforts accordingly.
Third, the national party must recognize that the grassroots power of the internets is a tremendous resource and should be accorded respect and tapped into. When the word went out to bloggers that Hackett was making some inroads, over $400,000 was raised in little more than a week, and when crunch time came, volunteers from all over the country were mobilized to do the hard work of going door to door for the candidate and working telephones to get out the vote.
Paul Hackett ran one hell of a campaign and should have won. Hopefully he will do so in two years, this time with the proper support of the Party.
posted by Diane at 6:11 AM
1 Comments:
damn skippy!
Post a Comment
<< Home