Paul Hackett dropped out of the Ohio Senate Race yesterday:
Paul Hackett, an Iraq war veteran and popular Democratic candidate in Ohio's closely watched Senate contest, said yesterday that he was dropping out of the race and leaving politics altogether as a result of pressure from party leaders.Markos has a post with his take on this news.
Mr. Hackett said Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Harry Reid of Nevada, the same party leaders who he said persuaded him last August to enter the Senate race, had pushed him to step aside so that Representative Sherrod Brown, a longtime member of Congress, could take on Senator Mike DeWine, the Republican incumbent.
Mr. Hackett staged a surprisingly strong Congressional run last year in an overwhelmingly Republican district and gained national prominence for his scathing criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq War. It was his performance in the Congressional race that led party leaders to recruit him for the Senate race.
But for the last two weeks, he said, state and national Democratic Party leaders have urged him to drop his Senate campaign and again run for Congress.
Meanwhile on the other side of the aisle, one of Ohio's top GOP fundraiser -- and Bush Pioneer -- Tom Noe was indicted yesterday on 53 counts:
Mr. Noe was charged with 22 counts of forgery, 11 counts of money laundering, eight counts of tampering with records, six counts of aggravated theft, five counts of grand theft, and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.Ohio is a GOP cesspool.
Officials believe some of the stolen money helped fuel a lavish lifestyle that at one time included three waterfront homes, including a $2 million sprawling home in the Florida Keys where Mr. Noe, 51, now lives.
Mr. Noe, the longtime Republican benefactor and high-level appointee whose coin dealings with the state have touched off waves of scandal in Ohio, left the Lucas County jail yesterday after posting a $500,000 bond.
