Hackett Cusses Like a Marine, Media Love Him

Cover Boy: Paul Hackett is the loser liberals love.

Cincinnati once again appears to be on the cutting edge of a national trend, if you believe Mother Jones magazine. The November issue features Paul Hackett on the cover, touting the local lawyer as "The Democrat Who Fought" for his campaign against Jean Schmidt in the recent 2nd Congressional District special election.

Hackett's close loss in the heavily Republican district has catapulted him into national prominence, and progressive/liberal blogs, organizations and media have transformed his grassroots campaign into a near mythical changing of the guard in national politics. Imagine the reaction if he'd actually won.

The Mother Jones story does nothing to dampen this runaway enthusiasm, devoting 10 full pages and 13 color photos to the final days of Hackett's campaign in August. The lead anecdote is a classic: Hackett is greeting voters in Loveland on Election Day, and "a heavy-set man sneers ... (and) spews a stream of epithets" at Hackett, who "lets out a crybaby whimper: 'Waaaaaaa!' 'What's that, punk?' the big man growls. 'What's your fuckin' problem?' the candidate snaps. 'You got something to say to me? Bring it on!'

Cincinnati once again appears to be on the cutting edge of a national trend, if you believe Mother Jones magazine. The November issue features Paul Hackett on the cover, touting the local lawyer as "The Democrat Who Fought" for his campaign against Jean Schmidt in the recent 2nd Congressional District special election.

Hackett's close loss in the heavily Republican district has catapulted him into national prominence, and progressive/liberal blogs, organizations and media have transformed his grassroots campaign into a near mythical changing of the guard in national politics. Imagine the reaction if he'd actually won.

The Mother Jones story does nothing to dampen this runaway enthusiasm, devoting 10 full pages and 13 color photos to the final days of Hackett's campaign in August. The lead anecdote is a classic: Hackett is greeting voters in Loveland on Election Day, and "a heavy-set man sneers ... (and) spews a stream of epithets" at Hackett, who "lets out a crybaby whimper: 'Waaaaaaa!' 'What's that, punk?' the big man growls. ... 'What's your fuckin' problem?' the candidate snaps. 'You got something to say to me? Bring it on!' ... The man turns and storms away."

The article explains how Hackett is a new kind of Democrat who appeals to moderate Republicans — he's pro-military, pro-gun, plain spoken — and the overall message is clear: If this sort of candidate can turn voters in the swing state of Ohio, Democrats might have a chance to break their losing streak in national elections. Which is why party leaders recruited Hackett to run for the U.S. Senate next year against incumbent Mike DeWine.

As for why these same leaders are backtracking in their support now that Hackett has a Democratic primary opponent, U.S. Rep Sherrod Brown, well, Mr. Plain Spoken doesn't know and doesn't care.

"The Democratic Party is like an addict," Hackett tells Mother Jones in a follow-up interview. "They're addicted to failure. I want to help the party. The question is, how do you help someone that doesn't want help?"

Find the cover story and additional interview at www.motherjones.com.

Our Marijuana Problem
A lesser known magazine, Drug War Chronicle, also takes note of a Cincinnati area political campaign. Devoted to the legal outrages and personal tragedies caused by the U.S. war on drugs, the magazine's Oct. 14 edition includes a feature headlined, "Marijuana: Pot an Issue in Cincinnati Mayoral Race." The piece notes City Councilman and mayoral candidate David Pepper's proposal, now abandoned, to lock people up for 60 days for possession of a joint. For the full article, visit stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/407/cincinnati.shtml.

Meanwhile, a substance more familiar to Cincinnatians again found an entrée, so to speak, in the campaign trail: chili. Camp Washington Chili last week hosted its annual Coney Caucus, with candidates for mayor and council lining up to eat cheese coneys with the restaurant's patrons. Few of the candidates did any actual eating, but State Sen. Mark Mallory had the pleasure of being asked for an autograph by a pair of future voters.