"On the issue of the Iraq War, the disconnect between the Washington, D.C. Democratic Party establishment and political reality in America is growing by the day," writes David Sirota [3]. "Case in point is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's attitude towards the tremendous special election run by Paul Hackett [4] in the staunchly Republican Cincinnati suburbs." Hackett, an Iraq war veteran who sharply criticized Bush's decision to go to war, came close to winning in a district where Republicans traditionally win huge majorities. "Ultimately, the anti-war position defined his candidacy, and was the clear reason he was able to do so well in such a Republican district," Sirota writes. "Incredibly, however, in a memo sent to all Democratic House Members about what Democrats should learn from the Hackett race, the DCCC makes not one mention of the Iraq War and its effect on the election. Not one. It is as if the party is going out of its way to deny the importance [5] of Democrats taking a strong position against the war." Democrats will continue to lose elections, he argues, if they "basically ignore almost every serious issue, whether it be the war or economic issues. ... Not only is the D.C. Democratic Establishment removed from the concerns of ordinary Americans, it actually goes out of its way to deny the existence of the messages that actually make campaigns successful."