Sherrod Brown Hits the Cover of The Nation

The current issue of The Nation magazine has an interesting analysis of why Sherrod Brown's race for a Senate seat from Ohio is being watched so closely by Democrats and other progressives around the country. Besides the obvious reason--without his victory they have no chances to recapture the U.S. Senate, which is unlikely in any event--the cover piece argues that he is one of the few Dems who isn't being cowed by Republican attempts to demagogue on national security, and is instead aggressively tying the party's failures in Iraq to their failed domestic policies:

'If Brown, an antiwar economic populist who supports abortion rights and gay rights, can defeat a Republican incumbent with a special-interest-laden bankroll and Karl Rove-inspired attack ads, then the lesson for Democrats is a dramatic one. Instead of pulling punches, they can throw them. 'What Sherrod's doing is what every Democrat should be doing,' says Roger Tauss, legislative director of the Transport Workers Union. 'The Democrats have had trouble figuring out how to talk about economics. They don't know how to reach people who are hurting but still vote Republican. Sherrod refuses to believe those voters can't be won over.'

Brown is described as having "Kennedyesque looks and Clintonesque memory for facts and figures." Not a bad combination in politics, I'd say. If he eventually wins the seat, as it looks likely he will, we'll just have to wait to see if his spouse reminds people more of Jackie or Hillary.