Muslims For Kucinich

From Karin Caifa:

PITTSBURGH TO DETROIT TO… MARTHA’S VINEYARD?
Rep. Kucinich met with lots of applause at the United Electrical Workers Union Convention in Pittsburgh yesterday and at his Detroit presser on energy issues today.

In Pittsburgh, he delivered a speech that jabbed at fellow Democratic presidential candidates Howard Dean (attacking his health care plan), and Dick Gephardt (on trade agreements) and President Bush (on U.S. involvement in Iraq.)

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the union rewarded Kucinich with a standing ovation at the conclusion of his 40-minute speech.

In a statement the union noted that while it has never endorsed a presidential primary candidate, “… we are, however proud to strongly urge UE rank-and-file members to seriously consider [Kucinich?s] campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination… [he] is to be commended for his participation in the primary contests. His campaign effort is injecting into the primary process a sense of urgency with regard to the need to tackle the various crises facing working people, including the imperative to remove Bush from office in the November 2004 election.”

This morning in Detroit, Kucinich told an audience from both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border that the blackout that blanketed the northeast portion of our country and parts of Canada on Aug. 14 was all because of deregulation of energy companies.

The AP reports: “ Kucinich was joined by Howard Hampton, the leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party and a candidate for that province’s premier. They said more cooperation is needed between Canada and the United States to protect energy consumers.”

“‘The blackout that occurred a couple weeks ago is a symptom of a system that is sick through deregulation — a system where private control of utilities has meant less service, service vulnerabilities, high rates,’ he [Kucinich] said.” Kucinich also took swipes at the Bush administration for not investigating the cause of the blackout thoroughly enough.

In a huge change of scenery from America’s steel and automobile capitals, Kucinich participated in an informal Main St. walk/meet-and-greet in Martha’s Vineyard tonight and will participate in a lunch with supporters in Beverly, Mass., before heading to Wisconsin tomorrow afternoon.

GOOD VIBES IN THE GOLDEN STATE
During a West Coast visit in June, Dennis Kucinich referred to California as his “springboard to the presidency.” Patti Selwyn of the campaign’s California operation said today that a lot of the bid’s national momentum and creativity is being fueled in the Golden State. She reports that the congressman’s candidacy has brought out “hundreds of volunteers who are so devoted to the campaign.”

“These are people who have avoided politics in the past. He gives them hope. People are thinking, ‘Wow, this is a new kind of campaign,” Selwyn said. She reports people organizing house parties and other small events on their own and at their own expense. “It’s very grass-roots, a lot of word of mouth.”

The next round of house parties, which will take place in California on Sept. 11, will include a campaign video, a call from Kucinich and encourage donations at the end of the evening. The candidate returns to California in the flesh on Sept. 21 and, aside from the immigration announcement that day, his schedule for the visit has not been finalized.

Like counterparts in Iowa, the California campaign will try to make inroads on college campuses, but Selwyn is somewhat skeptical. “It’s going to be hard. We’ve seen a lot of apathy with students. These kids have grown up in pretty affluent times,” Selwyn said. “The other day I heard some young guys saying, ‘We’re voting for Arnold Schwarzenegger [in the recall] because he’s so cool.’ There’s lots of naivet頴here. You don’t know what the wrong governor, the wrong president could do to you.”

She adds that Kucinich is “really catching on” out there. Kucinich’s last FEC reports would confirm that; the overwhelming majority of donors gave California addresses. We’ll see on Sept. 30 if that trend continues.

KUCITIZENS {HEART} MEETUP.COM!
A campaign email tonight boasts that the Kucinich bid has moved into second among presidential camps on the popular organizing web site MeetUp.com. It is, however, a distant second as Kucitizens stand at about one-tenth the number of Howard Dean supporters on the site.

MORE DENNIS VS. DEAN
If you can’t beat him on MeetUp, go after him on Cuba. The campaign today reiterated Kucinich’s stance on trade with Cuba (he wants to repeal Helms-Burton, thus ending the embargo) while pointing out a piece in Tuesday’s Miami Herald that traced Howard Dean’s “flip-flopping” on the issue.

As reported yesterday from my interview with People of Color Outreach coordinator Placido Salazar, the Kucinich campaign is making huge attempts to reach out to the Hispanic and Latino communities and the congressman’s stance on Cuba could very much play to that. Plus, Kucinich could deliver the message in Spanish, which he speaks.

THE KUCINICH CAMPAIGN HABLA ESPANOL
New to the campaign web site is the Kucinich platform translated into Spanish.

WHO IS THIS GUY? SOME ANALYSIS
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Kucinich at the Electrical Workers Union convention, 8/27/03: “I agree with everything he says,” said Diana Alexander-Jones, a delegate from Philadelphia. “Is he new? I’ve never really heard anything about him before.”

From my note on his Daily Show appearance, 8/21/03: “… name recognition was little. The show’s head writer warmed up the crowd for Kucinich by saying, “This is one of the guys who speaks his mind.” He then asked a member of the audience, “Do you know who this guy is?” When he got a blank stare, he said, “Well, you will after tonight…”

The Zogby poll out today did not have good news for the Kucinich campaign in New Hampshire. It shows the congressman polling at 1% there, tied with Sen. Bob Graham but ahead of the Rev. Al Sharpton and Carol Moseley Braun. He was also beaten by Gen. Wesley Clark, who hasn’t even entered the race yet.

Kucinich needs to raise his profile, and if he can be as successful at this nationwide as he has been in California, his campaign may be on to something. The truth, though, is that it is tremendously difficult for someone in Kucinich’s political position to overcome obscurity.

Unlike the majority of candidates in the field, with the exception of the Rev. Al Sharpton and Rep. Richard Gephardt, Kucinich has never held statewide office. In the House of Representatives, Kucinich is one of 435. He is one of an 18-member House delegation from his home state of Ohio. He hasn’t had the benefit of a national party leadership position, a la Dick Gephardt. He’s a member of the minority party so he hasn’t had he benefit of a committee chairmanship. And he’s only in his fourth term so he hasn’t worked his way up to ranking minority member on a committee yet.

Additionally, most of the loyal campaign staff that surrounds Kucinich has not had the benefit of working on a bid with national magnitude. Some were with him for his bid for mayor of Cleveland, some for his first run for the U.S. House. They’ve never dealt with a campaign this big before and it is showing. For example, most camps are already looking beyond Iowa and New Hampshire and ahead to South Carolina. When I asked communications director Jeff Cohen this week the Kucinich plan for the Palmetto State in the fall months, he told me there’s no specific plan yet.

The senators and former senator, as well as the former governor, in the race had to run statewide campaigns and were successful at them. Dick Gephardt has the advantage of a few presidential runs on his side. For Kucinich and his staff this is unchartered territory and although they’ve come leaps and bounds in the last six months, the little-campaign-that-could may not ramp up in time to be a serious contender.

Kucinich and his staff should not feel badly should they not win the presidency next November. History isn’t on their side either: nobody has gone directly from the House to the White House since James Garfield in 1880.

SCHEDULE
*Note update to Thursday
Thursday, August 28
— 1:15 - 2:15pm: Lunch w/supporters at the Organic Garden, Beverly, Mass. *
— 6-10 p.m.: Wisconsin Corn Roast hosted by Rep. Ron Kind, LaCrosse, WI, County Fair
Friday, August 29
— No events scheduled
Saturday, August 30
—10 a.m.: Cleveland, OH, Labor Day Parade
Sunday, August 31
— 12-1 p.m.: Clinton, IA, Labor Congress Labor Day Picnic, Eagle Point Park, North Clinton, IA
— 3:30-4 p.m.: Organic Dairy Farm Picnic, Fairfield, IA
Monday, September 1
— Labor Day Parade, Des Moines, IA followed by rally TBA in Iowa City
Tuesday, September 2
— Attends rallies at Iowa State University and the University of Iowa
Wednesday, September 3
— House of Representatives reconvenes, 2 pm
Thursday, Sept. 4
— CHC Forum, Albuquerque, NM
Sunday, September 7
— Appears with Willie Nelson at Farm Aid, Columbus OH
Tuesday, September 9
— CBC Forum at Morgan State Univ., Baltimore, 9pm

Looking waaaaay ahead, Kucinich will be in San Diego for the aforementioned immigration policy announcement on Sept. 21. He’ll be in Los Angeles on Oct. 4 as featured speaker at the Council on American-Islam Relations Southern California dinner. We are looking at mid-October for an official announcement of Kucinich’s candidacy and November for the rescheduling of the Willie Nelson concerts.

ENDORSEMENT OF THE DAY
Singer Ani DiFranco tells Rolling Stone why she’s backing Kucinich:

“He’s not a self-aggrandizing strategist or corporate whore. He’s the real thing.”