Vote by vote: Kucinich to hit 300 miles, seven Iowa towns
Originally published in The Morning Journal
Vote by vote: Kucinich to hit 300 miles, seven Iowa towns
MIKE SAKAL , Morning Journal Writer 08/19/2003
(Editor's note: Morning Journal writer Mike Sakal and photographer Ross Weitzner are traveling with presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich on a campaign tour of Iowa.)
BLOOMFIELD, Iowa -- For the first time in 35 years, Garry Klicker, 57, of Bloomfield, Iowa, saw a presidential hopeful -- U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
Kucinich was on the second day of a two-and-a-half-day campaign in the heartland bus tour throughout southern Iowa, stopping at seven small towns and traveling 300 miles across the state, to speak to crowds ranging in size from 20 to 200 people.
Kucinich's tour went along back country roads and stopped in towns with quaint cafes with creaky wooden floors and hometown diners with red-and-white checkered floors, where he met with people of all ages.
Klicker, who owns a small farm and sells insurance and operates a small tool business with his wife, said he likes what the Democrat Kucinich is saying, but isn't sure whether he'll support him.
''This is the first presidential candidate I've seen in Davis County since 1968, when I saw George McGovern. I voted for him and even though he lost I don't think that has to become a pattern here for whoever we support.
''We've done well here for many years, but now it seems like the country is letting a few people from the government bleed the wealth out of the middle class,'' said Klicker, as he ate lunch at the ''R'' Place Cafe in Bloomfield with about 50 other people. Bloomfield was the second of the seven stops Kucinich made yesterday.
''We have to beat Bush,'' Klicker added. ''The country is going to hell in a handbasket, and he's in the lead. We're losing control of our political process and if we continue to let it go, we're never going to get it back.''
Kucinich continued to pitch and preach his dreamy programs -- repealing NAFTA and World Trade Organization laws, as well as promoting universal health care, cutting military spending and increasing education funding.
''Like FDR did during his presidency, we need to create a public works program and put America back to work. We need to rebuild our bridges, our roads and our infrastructure. We need to restore our rail lines and we need to support inter-urban rail lines,'' Kucinich espoused.
However, Kucinich said during a press conference in Indianola, Iowa, that he still would not support a rail line from Lorain into Cleveland via the west-side suburbs, saying he would not want increased rail traffic through those neighborhoods.
''An agreement was signed with officials from those cities and federal officials to not allow a higher volume of rail traffic to come through those cities, and I don't plan to change that agreement,'' Kucinich said. ''It's a legal issue and a local issue,'' he said, repeating that he didn't want to alter it.
Kucinich will be meeting with labor leaders from Iowa and Nebraska early today in Council Bluffs and then return to Cleveland. He is expected to make a statement about Thursday's blackout, which is believed to have originated at a FirstEnergy plant in Northeast Ohio.
In his appearance at Bloomfield, Kucinich was heeding the advice of local Democratic leaders.
''If you want our vote, you have to come to Davis County,'' said Cheryl Jones, chairman of the Davis County Democratic Party. ''Seeing the presidential candidates is a big deal for us -- because we do get out and vote. In the 2000 election, we had a 70 percent voter turnout and our county only has a population of 8,000. We like to meet the candidates to see who we might be voting for.''
It's still hard to gauge whether people will support Kucinich as their favorite, as many Iowans said they're still undecided.
According to polls, Kucinich still is in the lower portion of the Democrats, but people are beginning to get familiar with his name and message. The next stop on his tour was in Ottumwa, Iowa, population 25,000.
Many people there said they supported Richard Gephardt, a U.S. representative from Missouri, as well as Howard Dean, Vermont's former governor, as the Democratic front-runners. But they all liked what Kucinich is saying and his spirited talks on issues such as the economy, putting Americans back to work and stopping preemptive military strikes against other countries is catching their attention.
''I guess I'd call him an up-and-comer,'' said Ottumwa Mayor Van Gates. ''He's got a good one-on-one rapport with the people. He's turned his speech up a couple notches since I saw him last. He's pointing out the weaknesses of the other candidates and he seems to be a man of action.''
Ottumwa, which is an agricultural base town, is home to a John Deere factory, but the John Morrell meat-packing plant left town nearly 30 years ago, and a Hormel meat plant closed in 1988.
Ruth Emery, 84, voted for Ross Perot in the 1992 election, and this year is supporting Kucinich. She used to work at the Morrell plant, but lost her job a year before the plant closed.
''Dennis Kucinich is what I had hoped for the last 40 years,'' Emery said. ''He's my favorite by a long-shot, and I believe he can do it. I haven't seen anyone else I can support.''
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