Kucinich is considered to be a green liberal; he is sometimes described as a "Wellstone Democrat". He has been praised as "a genuine progressive" by Ralph Nader, who has hinted that he might not run against Kucinich as he did against Clinton in 1996 and against Gore in 2000, should Kucinich actually win the nomination. In 2003, Kucinich was the recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award.
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2 Mayorship 3 US House of Representatives 4 2004 Presidential Campaign 5 Notable Quotes 6 External links |
Personal Life
Kucinich is unmarried, and a vegan. His father was a semi-truck driver; Kucinich has mentioned that he was homeless at least once in his childhood, with his family living in a car.
Mayorship
In 1977, Kucinich, at the age of 31, became the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, the youngest mayor of a major US city, after running on a ticket promising to cancel the sale of the city's publicly owned electric company, Muny Light to a private electric company, the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company (CEI). CEI had been responsible for numerous violations of federal antitrust law in its attempt to put Muny Light out of business. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission determined that CEI blocked Muny Light from making repairs to its generator by lobbying the Cleveland City Council to place restrictive conditions on Muny Light Bonds. Because of the delay in repairs, Muny Light had to purchase power. CEI then worked behind the scenes to block Muny Light from purchasing power from other power companies. CEI became the only power company Muny Light could buy from. At that point, CEI sharply increased and sometimes tripled the cost of power to Muny Light. As a result, Muny Light began to lose money. The current, mayor of Cleveland then agreed to sell Muny Light to CEI, but after Kucinich won the election, he canceled the sale.
CEI went to court to demand that Muny Light pay $15 million for power it had purchased. The previous mayor had intended to pay that light bill by selling the light system, simultaneously disposing of a $325 million dollar antitrust damage suit. Kucinich's election not only stopped the sale, but kept the lawsuit alive. CEI went to federal court to get an order attaching city equipment. Kucinich moved quickly to pay the bill by cutting city spending. On December 15, 1978, Ohio's largest bank, Cleveland Trust, told Kucinich that they would not renew the city's credit on $15 million of loans taken out by the previous administration unless Kucinich would agree to sell.
At midnight on December 15, 1978, Cleveland Trust put the City of Cleveland into default. Later, it was revealed, that Cleveland Trust and CEI had four interlocking directors. Cleveland Trust was CEI's bank. Together with another bank, Cleveland Trust owned a substantial share of CEI stock and had numerous other mutual interests. Public power was continued in Cleveland.
Kucinich lost the election in 1979 with default as the major issue. CEI was subsequently acquired and is now part of First Energy.
Critics of Kucinich's performance as mayor cite the city's economic decline during his stewardship. Kucinich was often lampooned in editorials and editorial cartoons as Dennis "the Menace", a play on his name, his youthful appearance and his positions (which in that context were often being characterized as extremist and anti-business).
In 1998, the Cleveland City Council stated that Kucinich had "the courage and foresight to refuse to sell the city's municipal electric system." After the 2003 US-Canada Blackout, First Energy was identified as a contributor to the disaster due to various failures. Kucinich began to advocate for liability proceedings.
Kucinich voted against the Patriot Act in the House of Representatives, and as he states on his website, he is the only presidential candidate to have done so. Fellow candidates Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, Carol Moseley Braun, and Al Sharpton were not in Congress at the time, and hence had no opportunity to vote; all have expressed concerns about the legislation, as have several of the other candidates who voted for it at the time.
However, Kucinich does not have a consistently liberal voting record as a congressman. He voted for a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning, as well as for the resolution calling for an investigation into President Bill Clinton's role in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. [1]
Ralph Nader and most Greens are friendly to his campaign, some going so far as to indicate that they would not run against him. The Green Party has recently decided that they will be running a candidate, and appears to be operating on the assumption that Dennis Kucinich will not do well in the primaries.
Shockingly, he earned second place in MoveOn.org's primary, behind Howard Dean. He has also placed first in other polls, particularly internet-based ones. This had led many activists to believe that his showing the primaries may be better than what Gallup polls have been saying. However, in the non-binding D.C. Primary Kucinich finished fourth (last out of candidates listed on the ballot), with only eight percent of the vote.
What is most interesting about Kucinich is that he does not need to come out in first place in order to boost his campaign. Having been blacked out by most of the media (a large number of Americans have still never heard his name), if he places in third or fourth place in upcoming primaries, he may very well become a serious contender for the nomination.
US House of Representatives
2004 Presidential Campaign
Platform and Criticism
Kucinich's platform for 2004 includes:
Kucinich has been criticized for flipflopping on the issue of abortion by, including once Chris Matthews during a broadcast of cable channel MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" (July 15, 2003) [1]. Matthews said that Kucinich was "pandering" by switching from a pro-life to a pro-choice position. He has voted for restrictions on abortions for most of his congressional career; however, he is quick to note that he has never supported a constitutional amendment prohibiting abortion altogether. Press releases have indicated that he is pro-choice but also wants to initiate a series of reforms, such as ending the "abstinence-only" policy of sex education and increasing the use of contraception in hopes of making abortion "less necessary" overtime. It is rumored that Michael Moore refuses to endorse him based on this belief in making abortion less necessary overtime.Campaign Strategy
A great deal of Kucinich's campaign advertising involves references to his supporters. Kucinich's website contains a list of well-known individuals who are among his supporters, including:
Polls and Primaries
National polls have consistently shown Kucinich's support in single digits, but rising, especially as Howard Dean has lost some support among peace activists for refusing to commit to cutting the Pentagon budget. Though he is not viewed as a viable contender by most, there are differing polls on Kucinich's popularity.Notable Quotes
External links
