Most people don’t know much about Paul Hackett, but he was beginning to look like a rising star in the Democratic party. An Iraq war and Marine Corps veteran, he ran for Congress in a special 2005 election and was narrowly defeated by Jean Schmidt amidst widespread reports of election fraud. Still, Hackett garnered 48 percent of the vote in an overwhelmingly Republican district and decided to run in the 2006 election.

Suddenly today he announced that he is withdrawing from the Senate race and possibly from politics altogether, evidently because of machinations from behind the scenes by party leaders. Like Howard Dean, Hackett owed little to the Democratic party, raising most of his money and support in “netroots” campaigns over the internet. Unfortunately, Hackett’s competitor Sherrod Brown evidently raised more money: with $2.4 million in his coffers to Hackett’s $700,000. Like Howard Dean, the party leaders felt Hackett couldn’t be controlled and withdrew their support in favor of a more “winnable” candidate. We saw what happened in 2004 with John Kerry, but history is doomed to repeat itself.

Paul Hackett IS a bit of a loose cannon – he is brash, outspoken, and has an appeal that reaches across party affiliations due to his support of gun rights and his military background. His life has been filled with change: After receiving his law degree from Cleveland State University and a stint in the Journalism department of American University, he was admitted to the Bar in 1988. Shortly thereafter he enlisted in the Marine Corps, where he saw active duty between 1989 and 1992, followed by a stint in the Marine Corps Reserves. He opened his law office in 1994 and served on the city council of Milford Ohio from 1995 until 1998 when he retired to spend more time with his family. In 2004 he volunteered for active duty in Iraq, returning in 2005 when he immediately entered the race for the Congressional seat. He lost, but his spectacular showing in an overwhelmingly Republican district made him an attractive candidate for the 2006 election until Sherrod Brown entered the primary with a $2 million war chest.

Paul Hackett (view chart) , like Alito and Delay, profiled elsewhere in this blog, is an Aries, with both Sun and Venus falling in that fiery sign. Aries is ruled by Mars, the god of war, and is concerned with primacy and aggression. Aries is the warrior – somewhat self-centered and blunt, but also courageous and full of life. However, Mars in Hackett’s chart falls in Pisces, the watery sign of compassion, escapism and intuition that seeks to flow through life rather than confront challenges. Pisces does not like aggression, and it is therefore a challenging place for Mars to be – particularly for an Aries male. His Mercury, showing the way he thinks and processes information, is also in Pisces indicating that although he is creative and intuitive, he may have difficulty facing reality.

This sets up a conflict in Hackett’s nature between the need of the Aries Sun to assert his primacy and the tendency of his Pisces Mars and Mercury to want to escape the challenge and seek a more comfortable way of life. In fact, Hackett has four planets in Pisces making the Pisces influence very powerful in his chart that ultimately overpowers the fire of his Aries Sun and Venus. This is evident in his life story thus far: periods of warfare and challenge alternating with a retreat into a more peaceful life. However, Saturn (discipline and stability) is in harmonious aspect to his Sun which helps to stabilize him and keep him from vacillating in destructive ways.

Hackett’s chart shows an exact opposition between Chiron (the wounded healer archetype) and Pluto (the archetype of transformation, death and rebirth) – this is a powerful system that applies continuous pressure on the individual to face painful issues (Chiron) in order to heal and transform himself (Pluto) in an ongoing process of personal evolution. The planet Uranus has been transiting this Chiron/Pluto in Hackett’s chart since March of last year, hitting again in August/September in time for the congressional election, and hitting now again for the final time. Transits of Uranus bring radical change into our lives, inspiring us to try new things and recreate ourselves in a totally new way.

Hackett has been experiencing a series of Jupiter (abundance and opportunity) transits since December, and this indicates that his release from the campaign may turn out to be beneficial and lift a burden from him. Transiting Saturn (testing and disappointments) began a stressful opposition to Saturn in Hackett’s chart in November of last year, showing that he has been under a great deal of stress. This will remain in effect until next summer,and Saturn is also making a harmonious aspect (Trine) to Hackett’s Sun. The combination of a difficult and harmonious transit of Saturn combined with the liberation of the Jupiter influences will serve to build internal strength and stamina, and this could be a time when Hackett finds himself a solid direction and life plan.