The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Sens. Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid forced Hackett to step aside so Rep. Sherrod Brown could run against incumbent Republican Sen. Mike DeWine.
Schumer and Reid are the same Democrats who persuaded Hackett to run last August, Hackett said. They apparently changed their minds because they think Rep. Brown stands a better chance of winning the Senate seat.
Democrat leaders want Hackett to run for a U.S. House seat instead, but he has refused.
"This is an extremely disappointing decision that I feel has been forced on me," the New York Times quoted Hackett as saying.
Hackett said Democrat leaders have been calling his donors and asking them to stop contributing to Hackett's Senate campaign. "For me, this is a second betrayal," Hackett was quoted as saying.
"First, my government misused and mismanaged the military in Iraq, and now my own party is afraid to support candidates like me."
In August, Hackett ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election in Ohio. Republican Jean Schmidt defeated Hackett 52 to 48 percent, but Democrats nevertheless were buoyed by what they called Hackett's strong showing in a staunchly Republican district.
Democrat blogs were buzzing with the news of Hackett's withdrawal on Tuesday.
"I can't f*** believe this," one angry liberal wrote on a popular Democrat blogsite.
But Kos, of the Daily Kos website, said Democrats were afraid of an untested candidate in a high-profile Senate race. "To be clear," wrote the blogger, "Hackett didn't stand a chance [in the primary]. He had a tenth of Brown's money, and that was before [Democrat leaders] allegedly tried to stop Hackett's donors from giving."
Kos also noted that Brown announced his candidacy before Hackett did.
"It would have been a tough slog," he concluded.
But over at the Democratic Underground website, many bloggers expressed dismay, if not anger: This is the day the [D]emocratic [P]arty will die. It will never change, they always push the new guys out," one blogger wrote.
See Earlier Stories:
Democrats Tout Losing Candidate's Winning Strategy (10 Aug. 2005)
Two Faces of Hackett: Ohio Dem's Strategy Falls Short (3 Aug. 2005)
Dems Brand Ohio Loss as 'Shockwave of Voter Discontent' (3 Aug. 2005)
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