Paul Hackett

I am a little pissed with the Democrats right now. Why can’t they get organized?

The Dems are about as organized as my friend Miles who left me this
message today:

“Hey Elenamary, is your cell working?
What’s the deal yo? Call me back. What’s my number?
It has an eight or something in it, you probably have caller ID,
don’t you? you know my number right? Wait what number did I just call?
Yeah, so, umm, call me.”

There is a special election going on in Southern Ohio right now. Rob Portman was an Ohio Congressman (Congressional District 2) until May when Dubya appointed him Trade Representative.

This special election congressional race is being held in the reddest congressional district in the State of Ohio. And while the district may be red, the democrat, Paul Hackett, has a damn good chance of winning it. He is exactly what we need in Ohio.

He comes from the the zip code that was the highest contributing ohio zip code for the Bush campaign. He is a marine and served in Iraq. He is a White, 6’4, heterosexual, married with three children. And I like him!

He is pro-choice:

Hackett said he is strongly “pro-choice” and “doesn’t know anyone who thinks abortion is a good thing, but let’s keep it safe, legal and rare.”

Hackett believes in universal access to health care:

Is it too much to expect that some of our tax dollars be allocated towards a fair system that provides affordable healthcare coverage to all Americans?

He is an environmentalist and drives a hybrid:

In 2000 the first hybrid cars hit the American road. I put my money where my mouth is and bought a hybrid that got over 65 mpg. I drive a larger model hybrid now that I have three kids. I still average better than 50mpg. Now hybrids are made in the States, and yes they even make an SUV hybrid!

A few years back I made another painless sacrifice. I replaced all the light bulbs in my house with compact fluorescent bulbs. My electricity savings were dramatic, and now I’m not so annoyed when I come home to my kids playing outside after leaving the lights on in the basement.

You don’t have to be a tree-hugger to conserve energy. American ingenuity has put men on the moon. There’s no doubt we can develop cost-effective alternatives that will reduce or eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. It’s the right thing to do. We just need the will to do it.

A few months back, when the gas topped out at $2.40 or $2.50, I didn’t pay that price. I was in Iraq. I saw how high the price really was.

and he is critical of the war:

Hackett told The Cincinnati Enquirer that the Iraq War has not been worth the price. “We need to develop an exit strategy and execute it. That strategy must committ 100% of our efforts to training the 140,000 Iraqi soldiers to do the jobs that the United States is doing now. We cannot again falsely declare victory.

I first heard of him today and the more I read about him, the more I liked him. I decided this morning to go work on getting him elected.

I’ve worked on GOTV campaigns before. In December I worked for the DCCC for a Louisiana Congressional Candidate. I figured I could best be used on another GOTV campaign. I have experience with DCCC, ACT and Move On, I am also a labor union organizer…campaigns usually want people like me. I figured that since this was a special election and in a swing state the Democrats would have all kinds of opportunities—I was wrong.

I tried contacting the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, America Coming Together, Move On, The Ohio Democratic Party, and the County pages that fall under Congressional District 2. Guess how many people I got a hold of? Zero, Zilch, None.

For those of you who haven’t heard of the DCCC they exist soely to get Democrats in congress. Why the hell don’t they at least have someone I can contact in Ohio and say “put me to work”. At least the DCCC has a webpage.

Many of the Ohio county Dems barely have webpages. Perhaps, I can blame Alexi for the lack of county Dem pages as I think he was supposed to have set them up but then moved to DC (he did get them all Internet access and email addresses–in 2003!)

I flew to Louisiana to work for a candidate whom I disagreed with on every position but I worked hard on GOTV. Because at least she wasn’t as bad as her opponent. Now there is a candidate in my state, the Buckeye State, whom I like, and I can’t seem to find a GOTV campaign. I just don’t get it. The Dems need to get better organized.