Karl Vincent Frisch

By Lauren W. Whittington

After running as the ultimate political outsider in a special House election in Ohio this August, attorney and Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett (D) is finding that the early stages of his Senate bid have largely been dominated by insider maneuvering.

Hackett is set to face off in a Democratic primary against Rep. Sherrod Brown and the contest is heating up behind the scenes, with both sides jockeying for early position and money.

Hackett was in Washington, D.C., last week for a fundraiser at the Hawk ‘n’ Dove on Capitol Hill. While he was there, he had lunch with famed Democratic strategist James Carville, a big fan and early supporter who campaigned for Hackett during his special House contest this summer.

Carville is playing no official role in the Ohio Senate race, but he praised Hackett as a friend and a good candidate.

While he indicated his preference is to stay out of the primary - leaving it up to Ohio Democrats to decide - Carville said he looked forward to campaigning for Hackett in next year’s general election against Sen. Mike DeWine (R).

“He’s a good guy. I thought he did a great job when I went out and helped him in Cincinnati in the special,” Carville said. “He was in town and I was glad to have lunch with him.”

Carville also said the outsider message that helped to propel Hackett’s near-miss special election campaign against now-Rep. Jean Schmidt (R) would continue to serve him well in 2006.

“I think he’d be sort of ludicrous to abandon it,” he said. “I don’t think it’s shaping up as it’s going to be an insider year.”

Another high-profile Hackett supporter during the special election is also remaining on the sidelines for the Senate primary. Former Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.), a Vietnam veteran and triple amputee, campaigned for Hackett this summer but he is also close to Brown and plans to stay neutral in the Senate race.

Meanwhile, Brown and his allies say they are focusing on early campaign fundamentals: raising money, lining up support and building a statewide infrastructure.

A Brown spokesman said that he has already lined up the endorsements of almost every Democratic county chairman in the state as well as Democratic state legislators.

“His focus is building his Democratic activist base to support his general election infrastructure,” the spokesman said, “and focusing his campaign on defining himself against Mike DeWine.”

A poll done for Brown’s campaign was circulated this week that showed him leading Hackett 51 percent to 27 percent in a primary matchup. Brown has represented his Cleveland-area district for more than a dozen years and an estimated 40 percent of Democratic primary voters in the state reside in the Cleveland/Akron media market.

Democratic strategist Steve Elmendorf, a former top aide to one-time House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.), said that the poll would be a useful fundraising tool for Brown, who has been viewed as the frontrunner in the race.

Elmendorf hosted a meet-and-greet for Brown Wednesday morning at the Washington offices of his firm, Bryan Cave Strategies in an effort to help the seven-term Congressman reach out to K Street lobbyists who have been more focused on the Senate and are less familiar with Brown.

“That poll’s a big help,” Elmendorf said.

But Hackett campaign spokesman Karl Frisch dismissed the Brown poll as “a snapshot of his name ID and that’s it.”

He noted that the poll was conducted soon after Brown’s campaign announcement tour in early December and said the fact that he “could only muster 51 percent speaks volumes.”

“It’s a very fluid race,” Frisch added.

Hackett debuted a new Web advertisement Wednesday on his campaign site as well as several liberal Web logs. Frisch said the ad is expected to hit local television airwaves before Christmas in what he described as a “selected, targeted buy.”

The spot features Hackett’s wife, Suzi, recounting how her husband spent last Christmas away from home fighting in Iraq.

“The servicemen and women are making incredible sacrifices, but it’s families at home who are sacrificing as well,” Suzi Hackett says in the ad, as the words “bring the troops home. soon & safely” begin to appear on the screen. “This holiday season we wish for all military families a safe and honorable homecoming and for all families the joy of being together.”

Hackett’s campaign team consists of media consultant Julian Mulvey of the Julian Mulvey Group, pollster Mark Blumenthal of Bennett, Petts and Blumenthal, direct-mail consultant Chris Cooper of MSHC Partners Inc. and fundraising consultant Dinah Dale.

The campaign expects to announce a general consultant soon.

Tickets to the Hackett fundraiser in D.C. cost between $35 and $250, and Frisch said that the campaign would have the resources needed to be competitive.

Fourth-quarter fundraising reports due to be filed in mid-January will be the first time either candidate has filed Senate campaign totals.

As of Sept. 30, Brown had more than $2 million in his House campaign account, which is transferable to his Senate bid. Hackett, meanwhile, was essentially starting from scratch financially after the August contest against Schmidt.

Brown is using Diane Feldman of The Feldman Group as his pollster and he is in the process of finalizing other key players in his campaign consulting team.

Meanwhile, rumors have been swirling around Washington that Brown and his surrogates are employing hard-nose tactics with donors and consultants in an effort to make the race more difficult for Hackett - charges that Brown loyalists vehemently deny.

Elmendorf said that Brown had too much else to focus on to begin engaging Hackett now.

“Sherrod has to raise a lot of money and show that he can put together the best campaign to beat Mike DeWine and that’s what he’s doing.” Elmendorf said. “They’re not really sitting around worrying about Paul Hackett.”

He added that the best way to neutralize a primary opponent isn’t through bullying tactics, but by tending to the campaign fundamentals.

“I think the way to avoid a primary is to put together the strongest campaign possible and you may not be able to avoid a primary, but if you can it’s by showing political strength and financial strength and message strength,” he said. “That’s what you got to do and that’s what we’re working on.”

Vic Rubenstein, a Youngstown-based Democratic media consultant, said that while Brown is clearly the frontrunner in the contest, Hackett’s grass-roots support in the state should not be underestimated.

“There is a lot of surprising support for Hackett,” Rubenstein said. “He’s almost become like a folk legend. It’s really bizarre how this whole thing has happened. He has endeared himself to a lot of people.”

Rubenstein said he expects both men will raise a significant amount of money in what he expects to become a hotly contested race. The key for Brown in the primary, he said, will be to not turn off Hackett supporters who will be crucial in the race against DeWine.

“Sherrod has to be very careful in not alienating those people who are on board with Hackett,” Rubenstein said. “If you press too much and you try to erase what has already happened, you build a base of enemies that are not going to support you in the general.”