Sherrod Brown will NOT run for Senate

[AuH2O]

Running commercials showing President Bush favorably and then calling him a lying chickenhawk to liberal media outlets does not equal "straight" talk. Who cares what Hackett runs for, anything of significance he will lose.

[Moooooo]

Running commercials showing President Bush favorably and then calling him a lying chickenhawk to liberal media outlets does not equal "straight" talk. Who cares what Hackett runs for, anything of significance he will lose.

Id call it running a good campaign.  His campaign staff obviously knew what it would take to make this race close and they did just that.  If a Republican came with 4% in Charlie Rangel's CD you'd be happier than sh**t.  Special election or not.

[Ben.]

Running commercials showing President Bush favorably and then calling him a lying chickenhawk to liberal media outlets does not equal "straight" talk. Who cares what Hackett runs for, anything of significance he will lose.

Not that Republican candidates have done similar things of course (?) First off don’t apply a double standard, secondly don’t allow partisan rancour to cloud political judgment, and anyway AuH2O you never think that Democrats can win nor do you ever seem to grant credit to anyone not from your political hew, what’s more your missing the point…

Simply because Hackett used Bush to illustrate a point and then argued that he didn’t trust the president to media sources (all of which was picked up and reported in the local and national press and media) doesn’t mean that he somehow lose any other race. Indeed despite calling Bush a “Chickenhawk” (not something I agree with) and an “SOB” he still ran you guys pretty close in a district where you should be able to put a block of wood up for election as a republican and still win, so clearly he’s got some ability as a campaigner.

The use of Bush in the commercial was designed to illustrate the fact that Hackett had served in Iraq and lived up to the standards which the President had praised in his convention speech, the clip was included to illustrate a point and that was not that he some how was aligned with the president, on the other had it also had the positive effect of distancing Hackett from any perception of him as a caricature, Bush-bashing Dem which he certainly was not, nor did he run as such.             

Assuming Democrats have a strong slate in 2006 (likely) then Ohio Republicans are probably go to be in for a fair old beating next November, Strickland is likely to win the gubernatorial race, Ryan would make the Senate race very competitive and Hackett as a running mate for Strickland would bring both a fresh face, name recognition and a compelling personality to the ticket… he would only be seen to do harm to the ticket by those who would never vote Democrat anyway.    

[TheresNoMoney]

Running commercials showing President Bush favorably and then calling him a lying chickenhawk to liberal media outlets does not equal "straight" talk. Who cares what Hackett runs for, anything of significance he will lose.

We've already gone over this plenty of times, so I'll just say again that you are completely wrong in your assertion.

Anyway, losing by 3% in the 57th most conservative district in the country is damn good. They ran an excellent campaign.

[Ben.]

Running commercials showing President Bush favorably and then calling him a lying chickenhawk to liberal media outlets does not equal "straight" talk. Who cares what Hackett runs for, anything of significance he will lose.

We've already gone over this plenty of times, so I'll just say again that you are completely wrong in your assertion.

Anyway, losing by 3% in the 57th most conservative district in the country is damn good. They ran an excellent campaign.

You forget though what the determining factor for AuH2O, he’s a Democrat, where he a republican in a safe democratic district it would a “masterful campaign with clever manipulation of the media” and “he’s not going anyplace but up”… maybe that’s a little crude but it’s about right.     

[ian]

Hackett is on deck if Ryan declines.

If we don't get any of those three, we're screwed. But I'm pretty sure we will. I think there's a decent chance that Tim Ryan will run. And I think that Ryan would probably be the strongest candidate. He could go after DeWine on both labor/economic issues, gun rights, and the war.

We're probably screwed anyway.  I think DeWine will keep his seat, as much as I hate to say it.

[TheresNoMoney]

[We're probably screwed anyway.  I think DeWine will keep his seat, as much as I hate to say it.

No way, man! We have a great shot in this race if Ryan gets in. Ohio is purging itself of Republicans in 2006.

Brand new SurveyUSA poll:

http://www.surveyusa.com/100USSenators0805SortedbyHighestApprovalRating.htm

42% approve, 43% disapprove. Only three Senators are worse (Martinez, Coburn, and Santorum)! DeWine is in big trouble.

[HardRCafé]

DeWine does rather suck. He also is going to continue sucking in the US Senate well past 2006.

Is it too late for a friendly wager?