Ever since Democrat Paul Hackett's near-victory in the Ohio-2 special election earlier this month, we have speculated about the possibility that the Iraq War veteran would run for the United States Senate. On Saturday, The Cincinnati Post's Michael Collins discussed that precise possibility.

Democrats have yet to find a candidate to challenge Republican Sen. Mike DeWine next year. But one name that has been coming up a lot lately is Paul Hackett.

The tough talkin' Iraq war veteran who came close to pulling off an upset in southwest Ohio's special congressional election earlier this month has been discussing the Senate race with party leaders and is seriously considering jumping in, a Washington insider says.

So far, the talks have amounted to nothing more than a few phone conversations. But Democrats may try to bring Hackett to D.C. after Congress returns from its August recess to talk about the race some more, the source said.

[...]

"He's a take-it-like-it-is kind of guy,'' Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Phil Singer said of Hackett. "He ran a strong race, and he'd be a strong candidate. And given the fact that both Republicans and Democrats are now saying they want Mike DeWine out of the Senate underscores the degree to which people are unhappy with the job DeWine is doing in Washington.''

Democrats also see an opportunity to pick up another Senate seat in the Midwest, though five years from now. Bob Novak writes about the situation in South Dakota in today's Chicago Sun-Times.

The Base Realignment and Closure Commission will have finished its work by week's end, and Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota probably will be closed forever. That also will close Sen. John Thune's tenure as national Republican poster boy following his victory last year over Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle. This is a cautionary tale of what happens when politicians forget politics.

President Bill Clinton saved Ellsworth for Daschle during the last BRAC process in 1995, but President Bush was detached in 2005. The resulting closure demolishes Thune's home-state prestige and threatens Republican domination of western South Dakota (where Ellsworth is located) by eliminating 6,000 civilian jobs. Local political setbacks may be reversed, but damage to Thune as a national fund-raiser and candidate-recruiter seems irrevocable. He has been transformed from regular to maverick. Bush might ask himself: Is closing one air base worth this?

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While Thune's conservatism was more in tune with South Dakota than Daschle's liberalism, the Democratic floor leader argued he could do more for the state. Campaigner Daschle told how in 1995 the Air Force marked Ellsworth for closure and he went to Clinton. The president telephoned the Pentagon to take Ellsworth off the list before it reached the BRAC.

Thune tried the same thing this year, but Bush withheld himself from the process. The new senator talked to Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Bush political adviser Karl Rove and Cheney aide Scooter Libby. But the same people who could not do enough for candidate Thune could do nothing for Sen. Thune. The Air Force, still smarting from Clinton's intervention, made the Ellsworth closing stick this time.

As we discussed a few months ago, failure to save a military base from cuts could severely hamper many Senators' and Congressmen's chances at reelection -- even if their next race doesn't occur for five more years. If Bob Novak is concerned about Thune's prospects, maybe it's time for South Dakota's Democrats to begin laying the groundwork to avenge Tom Daschle's loss come 2010.