OH Dem Senate candidate betrayed by party leaders

Paul Hackett, the Iraqi war veteran who unsuccessfully ran against Republican Jean Schmidt in a special election last year for a House seat, decided he was going to run for a bigger prize: the U.S. Senate. The Senate seat is held by GOP incumbent Mike DeWine, and Dems are hopeful that DeWine is vulnerable.

Hackett is a political outsider who was seen as a potential threat to DeWine, though folks like me wonder how much of a threat he could possibly be. I mean, he compared the GOP to Osama bin Laden and said that Ohioans who voted against gay marriage (about 62% of them did so) were "un-American." Despite one's personal feelings on the issue of gay marriage, is there anyone who thinks that the best way to court disaffected moderates, independents, or Republicans is to (a) compare them to OBL and (b) call them un-American? I was looking forward to Hackett getting spanked like a Clinton intern during role-playing.

Well, it's a moot point now. The party brass has decided to back anti-war kook Sherrod Brown, a current House member from Cleveland who has had some dandy quotes and Bidenisms over the years. From MSN:

The Democratic blogosphere was abuzz Tuesday with the news that one of its heroes, Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett, had dropped out of the Ohio Senate race.

Hackett, a civilian lawyer and a major in the Marine Corps reserves, caused a sensation last year when he nearly defeated Republican Jean Schmidt in a special election in a heavily Republican congressional district in southern Ohio. (Note that the left gets hot and bothered over close losses? They are still losses, correct? - Ed.)
...
Hackett said Monday party leaders pressured him to leave the race and made phone calls to his donors urging them to not contribute to his campaign.
...
"I made this decision reluctantly, only after repeated requests by party leaders, as well as behind the scenes machinations, that were intended to hurt my campaign," Hackett said in a statement issued by his campaign Tuesday.

Don't be surprised, folks. This is the same party that promoted Howard Dean to DNC chief and picked New England hippy John F'ing Kerry to be its candidate in 2004. If there's a way for the Dems to screw up, they'll find it.