You see these stories about Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer calling up donors and telling them not to give money to Paul Hackett. I can understand Hackett supporters being upset, insofar as they think that Schumer and Reid made the wrong decision in backing Brown instead of Hackett. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with calling up big contributors and telling them not to donate to some candidate.
It's just a more high-profile version of what everybody does -- the netroots definitely included. If you think the issues you care about aren't served by some candidate getting donations, you tell donors not to give them money. We do it through blog posts, the big players do it through phone calls to rich donors. If you think that part of the business of campaigning is outreach to donors in the netroots (and it is), you should agree that another part of the business is convincing the guys at the top to use their power on your behalf, or at least not against you. Hackett didn't accomplish that. Again, you can criticize Reid and Schumer for making the wrong move. But making moves like this is their business.
