Electoral Math
Reality-Based^TM Political Numbers from Nicholas Beaudrot

Friday Chinchilla Blogging & Shuffle! | Home | The Worst News Story, Except for All the Others

Hackett for ... Nothing
Now Playing: Jadakiss / Kiss of Death / Hot Sauce To Go

Paul Hackett has announced he won't run for Senate. Or Congress. Or Lieutenant Governor. Or anything. Ever, at least it would seem.

This is frustrating on all sides, and highlights one of my least favorite aspects of politics; running for office isn't always a lot of fun. Most of your time is spent asking for money or votes. And the rest of your time is often spent managing relationships with high-dollar donors, party leaders, and a host of other characters, all of whom have their own ambitions, agendas, and perceptions of optimal strategy. I imagine it can be annoying to have so many people stick their fingers in your business, especially when you're used to the structured chain of command in the military.

Specifically, I'm annoyed that Schumer and Reid don't want a contested primary, after the Republican party used contested primaries to garner positive free media in South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Florida in 2004. I'm also annoyed that Hackett's Act I performance from Hamlet forced the DSCC to push Brown into the race. Had Hackett simply committed to running for Senate in August '05, we wouldn't be having this problem.

Perhaps one day Hackett will decide to run for a statewide office in Ohio, where he won't have to deal with quite as much backroom deal-making, hand-holding, and as many staffers call it, "ring-kissing". He'll have a good story line there -- that he likes politics, but decided that national level office wasn't as fun, and he'll still be fairly popular.

Drinking Liberally is cancelled today, for all the Cupid Valentino's out there.

| | technorati

Home | Mail  | RSS

Last updated by Nicholas Beaudrot on 09:14 14 February 2006