Paul Hackett explains himself, and decides to make himself the hero of his own story.

But as I stood there in my desert utilities, tears running down my cheeks, my wife next to me, one kid on each leg and one in my arms for the first time in almost eight months, I thought of my service in Iraq, and the idea made sense. Service in Congress, as I saw it, would be a natural extension of service to my country in Iraq.

It has taken me 11 months to finally make it home from that scene at the airport. What I learned in the process is that, even though I'm a big Bruce Springsteen fan, I was not born to run. Serve yes, run for office no.

Somewhere along the way I became something I'm not: a political rock star. But I only wanted to help my country.

Kind of gets you right there, doesn't it?

The facts are clear--Hackett was "asked to retire" from the race, but the question remains as to why Hackett is out. Only a few short months ago, Hackett was a hero for "coming close" to unseating Jean Schmidt. Suddenly he is persona non grata as a candidate for Mike DeWine's seat in the Senate.

Operating under the principle that if you don't tell your own story, someone else will, Hackett goes on the offensive and blames his retirement on "careerism" and lack of principle.

That's true as far as it goes, but let me translate--the Crats wanted as least a reasonable chance of winning, not to settle for a moral victory. As Joe Klein points out, Hackett bears a disturbing stylistic resemblance to Howard Dean--bombast, superficiality and self-righteousness. Like Dean, Hackett is the darling of the moonbats, but he has zero chance of winning in Ohio, which the Democrats badly want to do.

"The republican party has been hijacked by religious fanatics that, in my opinion, aren't a whole lot different than Osama bin Laden and a lot of other religious nuts around the world," said Paul Hackett, a recent Iraq-war combat veteran who is running for the U.S. Senate from Ohio. As you may have surmised, Hackett is a Democrat, and his statement, to the Columbus Dispatch, raised an immediate call by the Ohio G.O.P. for an apology. "I said it," Hackett replied. "I meant it. I stand by it." In fact, he has taken to repeating it at every stop along the campaign trail.

Not exactly a vote getter among people of faith in Ohio

At the wings joint, he approached a small crowd of potential supporters with a combative abrasiveness that made Howard Dean seem like Mister Rogers. "I'm a strong Democrat from the great state of Ohio and damned proud of it," he thundered. "What does the Democratic Party stand for? Limited government. Strong national defense. Fair trade. Fiscal responsibility." Limited government? That was the fun part: "I don't want to send someone to Washington to invade my private life, control what goes on in my kid's school, get involved in the decisions made by my wife and her physician or to find out how many guns there are in Hackett's gun safe." He paused, looking for a reaction from any wussified, gun-hating Dems in the crowd. Finding none, he seemed lost. He didn't rise to his preferred state of indignation until the question period, when he was asked about Iraq. "The war is over. Bring 'em home. The war on terrorism is a war of ideas. We have a saying in the Marines: It's easy to be hard and hard to be smart."

Hackett's problems with the Reid and Schumer illustrate the larger problem the Crats are faced with--The party desperately needs authenticity, but the Hackett-Dean authenticity is like being an "out" pedophile--repellant to normal people.