Posted by Nick Beaudrot
Now that there's some space separating us from August 2nd's special election, let's take a step back and see what Democrats can learn. My initial thoughts haven't changed much, but I think Charles Kuffer summarizes the Hackett result much more effectively than I can [emphasis mine]:
The bottom line is that a good candidate with clearly articulatedvalues and enough funding to make his or her message heard is a force to be reckoned with, no matter where the race is.
Ohioans are getting fed up with Republican governance, but that alone would not have been enough to push Jean Schmidt to the brink of defeat in such a crimson red district. Paul Hackett had a terrific biography, raised the scratch to get on TV, and portrayed himself as something of a conservative in his ads. Democrats may not be able to find candidates with his strength in every district that Bush carried with 64% of the vote. But if they can find a Paul Hackett or a Coleen Rowley in half those districts, it would be enough to stretch the field tremendously.
Later today, once I've tracked down county-by-county election results (I'm about halfway there), we'll try and find some finer-grained lessons to take away from the Hackett-Schmidt special election
