Yes, we're back -- "we" meaning your friendly neighborhood Six-PAC bloggers and (only slightly more importantly) -- "we" meaning Democrats.
In case you weren't obsessively checking the news from the southwestern corner of Ohio all day yesterday, Democratic candidate for Congress Paul Hackett gave Republican Jean Schmidt a big scare, losing the Ohio 2nd District special election by just 4 points.
So what, you ask? Hackett, an Iraq war veteran who openly criticized that military campaign during his congressional campaign, lost 52-48.
While we aren't in the business of celebrating losses here, Hackett's accomplishment was an amazing one. He went down swinging in a district that has been about as solid as they come for the GOP in recent memory. This was the closest election in the district since 1974, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Recently, it hasn't even been close, with Republicans winning the seat with 44% margins and up.
At Six-PAC, we're focusing on state and local races, where the time and effort of an eager but newly formed PAC are more likely to make a critical difference. Still, Hackett's heroic effort in what has traditionally been (to put it mildly) a staunch Republican district proves that Democrats can run strong races in virtually any part of the Country.
We'll be here to help turn near misses like this into victories time and time again -- later this Fall in Virginia and New Jersey, in 2006, and beyond.
