Hackett sounds off on 2nd District race

Yes, that Paul Hackett.

The Iraq war vet and lawyer from Indian Hill who narrowly lost to Rep. Jean Schmidt in the special election for her seat nearly three years ago.

Hackett was interviewed in THIS story in Roll Call today about why Democrat Victoria Wulsin was left off of the DCCC List.

Here's an excerpt from the Roll Call story with Hackett's comments:

... Hackett said the consensus after last cycle — when Democrats won huge across the Buckeye State — was that if Wulsin “wasn’t able to do it in 2006, she can’t win it.”

Wulsin “has her own set of issues and problems and challenges just simply as a candidate,” he said. “In my humble opinion, she has not made the improvements that someone typically would have made if they are running their third campaign.”

Hackett defeated Wulsin in a July 2005 special election primary only to narrowly lose to Schmidt in the general election. Hackett’s near-miss in a previously reliable Republican district in the Cincinnati suburbs, coupled with Schmidt’s shaky start in Congress, convinced national Democrats that they could run competitively there.

“My concerns, on the one hand, is that Jean Schmidt has gotten much better,” Hackett said. “She’s not a dumb person. She’s a very hard-working person ... She’ll work anybody into the ground. She’s gotten, by my own personal observation, much better at the public aspects, if you will, of running for office.”

Hackett said current Members of Congress, whom he declined to name, asked him to consider running for the seat again in December 2006 after Wulsin lost to Schmidt by 1 point. Nonetheless, he sees the district as winnable for Wulsin, especially with a X factor like the presidential contest in 2008.