Could it be SHERROD in '08?

[Ken Burch]

A new face in the Senate.

A solid progressive labor Democrat.

Ohio would be a lock(and think what a difference THAT would be).

As a new senator, he'd be free of the long voting record problem.

Acceptable to activists AND insiders.

Should we consider it?

[ruiner4u]

1. no...

too much neg info from the dewine ads...

[OzarkDem]

21. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[Pithy Cherub]

2. NO

Torture supporter...

[itsrobert]

3. No

DLC'er

[Kolesar]

5. Explain...eom

[itsrobert]

7. He was hand-selected by DLC

Even through the people preferred Paul Hackett at the time. His handlers forced Hackett out.

[Kolesar]

8. Sorry. You don't know wtf you are talking about...

...on anything you cite in your post. Your response is notably devoid of references, too. This accusation is yours to defend and you failed. I don't give quarter to those who promulgate a misinformation campaign.

[itsrobert]

9. I gave you reference.

Chuck Schumer called Paul Hackett to step aside. That fact is undeniable true. Sorry, if you haven't been paying attention.

[ISUGRADIA]

11. Schumer is head of the DSCC not the DLC

[Kolesar]

12. ISUGRADIA pretty much summarized it...eom

[beaconess]

24. And good thing he did. Hackett could NEVER have beaten DeWine

[ISUGRADIA]

10. Hackett was nudged out but it was not by the DLC

Brown does not have DLC support

[itsrobert]

14. Nudge? More like Sabotaged

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett

-----On February 13, 2006, Hackett announced that he was withdrawing from the race and ending his political career. Hackett told the New York Times that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and New York Senator Chuck Schumer recently had asked him to withdraw. He further contends that Schumer sabotaged his fundraising efforts and actively worked against his campaign <3>. Hackett said, "For me, this is a second betrayal...first, my government misused and mismanaged the military in Iraq, and now my own party is afraid to support candidates like me."----


And Schumer doesn't take his marching orders from the DLC? LOL

[WCGreen]

41. Look, Hackett could have stayed in the race....

And he would have lost....

[onenote]

13. can you give a link in support?

Brown is not DLC as far as I know. And overall, considering the full spectrum of issues, he's more progressive than Hackett.

Gee, remember when everyone said that Brown had no chance to win and what a mistake it was for him to get the nod over Hackett?

[itsrobert]

15. His handlers SABOTAGED Hackett

It's a matter of the public record.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett

[onenote]

17. still looking for the Brown - DLC link? Got one or not?

[Kolesar]

18. We could let this die in the archives &the misinformation crew can go back

...to whereever they came from.

[John Q. Citizen]

26. But that's politics, isn't it? Doesn't make Brown DLC. And Hackett showed

a lot of class and did the right thing for Ohio, given the grief he got.

I hope Hackett runs for the House again. He'd be good.

Brown is too liberal for the "so-called centrist" DLC.

[beaconess]

27. He showed class? He whined like a baby!

[John Q. Citizen]

29. He came out quickly and supported Brown in his race. He did fund raising

for Brown, and that was classy.

Hackett got screwed because he cleared his run with everyone and then Brown chaanged his mind. That meant it was too late for him to run for the house in his district.

This is politics, and these things happen. But Hackett got back up and did what was right for Democrats as a whole. Yeah, that's classy.

[beaconess]

35. Quickly? It took him FIVE MONTHS!!!

Hackett dropped out of the race on February 14. He finally got around to endorsing Brown on July 11 - AFTER bitching and moaning and whining and accusing the Democrats of "betraying" him, among other things.

Hackett may be lots of things, good and bad, but a class act isn't one of them.

Hackett apologizes to, supports Brown
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Cincinnati - The man who once fumed he would never support Democrat Sherrod Brown's U.S. Senate campaign has suddenly changed his mind.

Paul Hackett is now formally in Brown's camp and said Monday that he had apologized to the Avon congressman. Not so long ago, the Iraq war vet-turned-politician used to blister Brown's hide with pungent cusswords.

Hackett's conversion came last week. He decided it was pointless to continue the political feud left over from his short-lived primary campaign against Brown, a feud that could have been helping Republican Sen. Mike DeWine's efforts to stay in office.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/115260667372000.xml&coll=2

[John Q. Citizen]

37. Look, you want blood? Great. You have less class than Hackett, he

already gave it up, but your're still whining.

The paper says "not so long ago." like six months?

Yet you are still whining and spreading devisiveness among Democrats.

Are you James Carville? Cause you sound a lot like him.

[Ken Burch]

28. What was so special about Hackett?

Sherrod is progressive and antiwar, and when Hackett was in the race, he was attacking Sherrod FROM THE RIGHT.

There was no injustice here. Ohio got a good, progressive, antiwar senator.

You need to let this one go.

[John Q. Citizen]

30. And when Hackett dropped out of the race he turned around and

supported Brown and did fund raising for him. I know, i got his fund raising appeal on behalf of Brown in my in box.

Hackett cleared his run before hand, then Brown changed his mind and that led to some bad blood.

But that was then and this is now. So people on both sides of the big flap need to let it go.

[OzarkDem]

23. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[athena]

38. He's as un-DLC as one can get. Here is a glowing Nation article about him:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061002/nichols2

What Brown offers Lima is an economic message that owes more to William Jennings Bryan than Bill Clinton, who always ran weaker in Ohio than he did nationally. Brown is not just another critic of the free-trade policies of the past several administrations. He wrote the book on the subject, The Myths of Free Trade: Why American Trade Policy Has Failed, which earned him praise from author Tom Frank for being the rare Democrat who actually understands what's the matter with Kansas--and, perhaps, Ohio. He preaches a fair-trade gospel that begins with a promise to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement and other trade deals to protect workers, the environment and communities--as opposed to encouraging multinational corporations to entertain relocation outside the country. But Brown's no "back to the future" populist; he recognizes that altering trade policies won't bring all the lost jobs back. He wants Democrats to adopt industrial policies that champion the development of new industries in old manufacturing towns. Brown's "we need to make Ohio the Silicon Valley of alternative energy" pitch has resonated with CEOs who don't typically talk up Democrats. "Sherrod understands that Ohio can remain a manufacturing state if we've got a federal government that supports the development of new industries," says Thomas Willis, president of Precision Energy & Technology, a fuel-cell firm, who appears with the candidate to vouch for Brown as the real friend of small manufacturers in a race with DeWine. Brown builds his message out with a promise to restructure tax policy to favor working families rather than billionaires and runaway corporations--he's for childcare, homebuying, college-tuition and elder-care tax credits; he's against tax cuts for the rich--and with talk about redirecting money spent on the Iraq War to meet domestic needs.

[OzarkDem]

22. Now that's funny

That had to be one of the most comical arguments against him. Sherrod is not DLC, he's very pro-labor, always has been. DLC is not pro-labor.

Sherrod is not easy to pigeonhole on ideology. Its probably easier to say he's incredibly intelligent when it comes to public policy, very skilled at getting things done in Congress without giving in on important issues and very passionate about trade policy, labor and health care. Good public policy comes from both sides of any debate and Sherrod has always known how to use the bipartisan process to make that happen, with good results and without abandoning his principles.

As he likes to say, you can accomplish a lot of things in Congress if you don't care who gets the credit for it.

[cmd]

31. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

That is the funniest thing I have heard today.

You better do some more research.

Sherrod Brown would be the best President since FDR.

[HughBeaumont]

39. Uh . . . Beavis . . .

I'm from Ohio. I live a stone's throw away from Sherrod. Senator-elect Brown is about as DLC as I am a religious right-wing nutjob.

Would a DLC'er write a book called The Myths of Free Trade, where he shreds both -AFTA's and GATT, explains how these agreements decimated the working classes of all nations involved and took one of the worst tolls on Ohio's manufacturing and auto industries? HARDLY!

[Kolesar]

4. He said this week that he will stay as senator &not use this to campaign for President

He is 54 (as of Thursday). Three terms in the Senate will mean we will have him until he is 72.

[TheFarseer]

6. after two years?!

shouldn't he have to prove he's at least a good Senator before we start this? This is more premature than Obama in 2008 and I think that's premature.

[Bucky]

43. Brown's been in the Congress for 14 years. That's not a newbie.

He's proved he's a good congressman and he's proved he's a good campaigner. There are reason to oppose Sherrod Brown for president, but lack of proven chops is not one of them.

[Jane Austin]

16. Not unless he learns to sit up straight and stand without bending over.

It might be ok for a Senator, but he doesn't look at all Presidential with all that curling over himself.

[Infinite Hope]

19. Oh good grief. n/t

[OzarkDem]

20. No, he has "zero" interest

Sherrod is not the kind of guy who wants to run a large bureacracy like the Executive Branch. He likes being in Congress, working as part of a team. He has a policy agenda involving jobs and health care that he is very passionate about and that's what he wants to work on.

I'm sure he'd be incredibly flattered that you would suggest him as a possible candidate, though.

[NJ Democrats]

25. No

Too new plus no intrest

[POAS]

32. All arguing aside Brown has

said that this is the last office he will ever tun for. He wants to stay in the Senate as long as Ohio wants him and then retire from public life.

[Columbus]

33. Torture Bill

Brown voted for the torture bill.

[Vadem]

34. Well, I'd vote for him for damn sure!!!!! Go Sherrod!!!!!!!.....n/t

[ProgressiveEconomist]

36. The NYT had a great article on the Labor agenda; If Sherrod

gets the right committee assignments, he could be at the center of real drama early in the 110th Congress. Republicans are sure to FILIBUSTER any bill to punish corporations for "union retaliation", and, if they're smart, Democrats will go full tilt on this to try to split off low-wage "social issues" Republicans.from Wall Street Republicans.

IMO Sherrod Brown is a new breed of populist Democrat, unafraid to spurn corporate donors with "class warfare" issues like protecting union organizing and saving American jobs with "fair trade" rather than so-called "free trade".

From http://www10.nytimes.com/2006/11/11/us/politics/11labor.html?pagewanted=print :

"Labor Movement Dusts Off Agenda as Power Shifts in Congress

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE; November 11, 2006

After the Republicans took control of the House in 1994, perhaps no group was on the outs as much as organized labor. But now that the Democrats have swept both houses of Congress, the nation's labor unions feel as if they are back „ and then some. Eager to be treated as an important force, union leaders have worked overtime since Election Day reminding Democrats about all that organized labor did to help put them over the top, including spending more than $100 million and dispatching more than 100,000 volunteers to help get out the vote. After years of being sidelined by the Republican majority, the nation's unions are now pushing Congress to act on a long list of issues: improving mine safety, putting a brake on outsourcing, making it easier to unionize workers and extending health coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. ...

For now at least, organized labor sounds fully in tune with the presumed House speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, because they both want to raise the minimum wage, rein in drug prices and help students with high college tuitions. Representative George Miller, a California Democrat and ally of Ms. Pelosi who is expected to become chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said, 'There's a strong sense among the members that a lot of middle-class workers are getting left out of the economic growth in this country, and we are eager to do something about that.' Mr. Miller and Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who is expected to head the Senate Labor Committee, say that raising the federal minimum wage will be the first issue they address. 'Clearly the minimum wage is front and center,' Mr. Miller said.

In the Senate, Republicans are likely to use the filibuster to block one of labor's most coveted pieces of legislation, a bill that would in many ways make it easier for unions to organize workers. The bill would, among other things, greatly increase penalties for companies that illegally fire workers to undermine unionization drives. Labor sees the bill, which is co-sponsored by more than 90 percent of House Democrats, as pivotal for reversing labor's decline. 'The filibuster, there's no question it's a hurdle,' said William Samuel, the legislative director of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. 'We will have to build a movement behind this legislation because it will give workers more bargaining power to respond to the loss of pensions, health coverage and jobs with good wages.' John J. Sweeney, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. president, said unions and the Democrats largely agree on most issues. Mr. Sweeney's wish list includes barring federal contracts for companies that send jobs overseas and making it harder for companies to shed their pension obligations when they file for bankruptcy protection.

Mr. Sweeney was eager to talk about how well labor did on Election Day. He pointed out that nonunion voters split more or less evenly between Democratic and Republican House candidates, while union members preferred Democratic candidates by a margin of 30 percentage points. Union leaders said that among all voters nationwide, there was a 6.8 million-vote margin in favor of Democrats over Republicans in the House races. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. pointed to exit polls showing that members of union households accounted for 5.6 million of that margin. 'We were by far the most powerful turnout engine on the progressive side,' Mr. Sweeney said. Labor unions helped orchestrate successful minimum wage initiatives in Montana, Missouri, Ohio and three other states. Those efforts encouraged many low-income workers to vote, giving an additional lift to Democrats, especially in close contests like the Senate race in Montana. Even with Democrats back in power, organized labor faces serious hurdles. Republicans and even some Democrats are uncomfortable with labor's demand to deny the Bush administration trade promotion authority, which makes it easier to negotiate trade pacts because Congress would be barred from amending them."

[Vexatious Ape]

40. Oh hell yes

I'm tired of the Dem's running all these goddamn free traders for prez.

[Deep13]

42. Sherrod will never run for president.

I asked if he will remember us in the "fighting 13th" when he is president. He said he will never seek that office and that his wife promised to divorce him if he did. During his victory speech he repeated that and chastised senators who think about the White House and sell their souls.

[cadmium]

44. Really like him except

that he voted for the detention/torture bill. I don't know what his rationale was -- so I am willing to have an open mind

[FrenchieCat]

45. How many current senators do we need running in the 08 race?

I mean, so far since Feingold has decided against it, I still count 6! Hillary, Obama, Biden, Dodd, Kerry and Bayh. So we need to add one to that line up? So, who's gonna do the people's work in these two short years we have to show the American people that Democrats are who they should be voting for "consistently"? Lemme know!