Iraq veterans increasingly throwing their helmets into ring

Iraq veterans increasingly throwing their helmets into ring
By Jessica Wehrman

When his Republican opponent took a swipe at Democrat David Ashe’s stance on the war on terror during the 2004 race for a Virginia Beach congressional seat, Ashe had a ready retort.

“She said I was weak on the war on terror,” Ashe recalls. “I said, ‘That’s funny. When I was walking around Iraq with 20 pounds of body armor on, I didn’t feel so weak on the war on terror.’ “

The opponent, Thelma Drake, beat Ashe, a former Marine lawyer who spent much of 2003 in Iraq, but Ashe is already preparing for a rematch in 2006.

He is one of a number of Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans Republican and Democrat alike running for Congress.

Among the most high-profile candidates is Democrat Paul Hackett, who is expected this month to formally announce he will challenge Sen. Mike De-Wine in 2006. Hackett, who lives in the Cincinnati suburb of Indian Hill, narrowly lost to Republican Jean Schmidt in August in a special election for Ohio’s 2nd District seat. Democratic U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown of Avon also has announced plans to challenge DeWine…

Including Hackett and Ashe, at least eight Iraq war veterans are running in states as disparate as Pennsylvania, Maryland, Texas and North Carolina. While most are Democrats who oppose either President Bush’s decision to go to war or the administration’s policies in Iraq, a couple are Republicans running with a full-throated defense of the war.

Vet tries for Ohio seat

In northeast Ohio, state Rep. John Boccieri, D-New Middletown, is considering running in the open race in U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland’s 6th District, which rims Ohio on the south and east. Strickland is running for governor.

Boccieri, an Air Force reservist who flew C-130 missions in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan, wants to run, but is concerned that a ballot initiative that would redistrict Ohio could potentially pit him against Rep. Tim Ryan, a friend and fellow Democrat.

“I feel like I could win in that district,” he said. “I feel like the country is solidly behind folks in the military.”

Outsiders welcome

Amy Walter, who analyzes House races for the Cook Political Report, said the fact that Hackett and the others are veterans is less important than the fact that they are political outsiders in a year when outsiders might be popular.

Hackett ran so well in the special election, she said, because he was a veteran, but also because he became a darling of the blogosphere and was deemed a bit of a renegade as a veteran who opposed the war. She also said Hackett did not heavily advertise the fact that he was a Democrat, which helped in an overwhelmingly Republican district.

“I don’t now how many candidates will be able to replicate what he was able to do,” she said.

In support of the war

Some veterans are running because they support the war.

In Texas, Bentley Nettles is one of two Republicans challenging Democrat Chet Edwards. Nettles, a Texas National Guardsman whose campaign Web site includes citations from a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars received in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he represents a silent majority of supporters of the war in Iraq. He said some of the anti-war veteran candidates are using their service “as a platform that may be inappropriate.”

“Everyone has a right to say their opinion,” he said. “My problem is there are a lot of people’s opinions who aren’t getting any attention.”

In Maryland, Democrat Andrew Duck, a former intelligence liaison in Iraq, is challenging incumbent Roscoe Bartlett partly on the basis of Bartlett’s stance on the war. Duck said his time in Iraq was riddled with frustration that “the policies being implemented didn’t make any sense.”

In Virginia, Ashe supported the president’s decision to enter Iraq, but criticizes the lack of post-war planning. He is heartened by the spread of veterans running for office and paints himself as a “standard voter” whose desire for public service is an extension of his military service.

“Lord only knows what will happen when veterans start running in state and municipal races,” he said.