Following the campaign, September 17
From Karin Caifa:
WESLEY WHO?
Communications Director Jeff Cohen says Kucinich’s bid wouldn’t be hurt if retired Gen. Wesley Clark jumps into the fray today. “In general, it could enliven the campaign and bring attention to it. …We’ve run a grass-roots, issues-oriented campaign, issues like health care and trade. Clark comes in as a personality. People who are committed to our issues aren’t going to go to Clark.” Cohen thinks that Kerry, Dean and Gephardt have the most to lose and this could be trouble for their bottom line $$$. “It also hurts Dean because he has the most momentum and the most coverage and this {Clark} takes the spotlight away.”
FIVE FACTS ABOUT KUCINICH
1) He became a vegan in 1995 after years of enjoying kielbasa and other Eastern European fare. 2) He’s the eldest of seven children. 3) Kucinich is the 2003 recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award. 4) He won election to the Cleveland City Council when he was just 23 years old. 5) As mayor of Cleveland in 1978, the city’s default plunged his popularity so low that he wore a bulletproof vest when throwing out the first pitch of the Cleveland Indians’ season.
BREAKFASTING FOR PEACE
In Washington on Tuesday, Kucinich addressed about 200 attendees at the Global Renaissance Alliance Democracy Conference. The group then hopped buses to Capitol Hill to lobby their representatives for Kucinich’s proposed Department of Peace. In supporting his argument for the cabinet-level department, Kucinich said: “There’s a role the Department of Peace has to offer the president policy options. ‘Mr. President, or Madame President, there’s another way to handle this, if you seek to resolve this matter without sending in the troops.’ Or, ‘Mr. President, it’s possible to work with the U.N. and inspectors, and you should stay with that, as opposed to launching an attack, Mr. President.’” The latter portion of that comment, a jab at the Bush administration (one of several from candidate and crowd throughout the morning), was met with cheers and whistles. Over 50 House members have signed on as cosponsors to Kucinich’s bill.
EARLY PRIMARY UPDATES
New Hampshire: Trevor Elkins, New Hampshire state director and New England campaign coordinator, has left the campaign to make his own run for office in the Cleveland area. This is according to National Field Director Amy Hochadel, who is in the Granite State filling in for Elkins. As far as who will replace him on a permanent basis, Hochadel says they’re “figuring it out right now.” The Kucinich campaign is just opening up its third New Hampshire office in Portsmouth. (Existing offices are in Manchester and Keene.) This Friday and Saturday the congressman will be campaigning all over New England, with rallies in Bangor, Maine, and at the University of New Hampshire, a vegetarian fund-raising brunch in Northwood, N.H., a speech in Cambridge, Mass., and the Rolling Thunder event in Manchester.
Iowa: Iowa State Director John Friedrich reports that while the campaign hasn’t yet reached all corners of the state with its door-to-door canvassing efforts, it is attracting newcomers and volunteers on a regular basis. Both together with and separate from county organizations, they’re strengthening student committees at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and other Iowa colleges. They’ve also got committees of high school students, who can caucus as long as they’ll be 18 years old by Election Day 2004. “Anywhere there’s a public gathering, we’re there,” Friedrich says. Anna Franker is settling into her role as Iowa field director. Franker previously worked on the campaigns of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
Arizona: The lone paid staffer in Arizona, State Director Kevin Spidel, says the Kucinich campaign now has branches in Tucson, Phoenix, Flagstaff and Prescott. Along with eight full-time volunteers, Spidel is taking a grass-roots approach to getting Kucinich’s message across, riding around in a van and educating voters at various stops. Spidel also says the campaign is reaching out into Arizona’s mining communities to emphasize Kucinich’s commitment to labor. They’re working state fairs, county fairs and parades to raise awareness of the campaign. He notes that this is the first campaign he’s worked on where people have quit their jobs to volunteer full-time. Kucinich “is such a different style of politician,” he says. “He’s the first candidate I’ve seen with a real heart.”
TODAY ON THE TRAIL
The candidate is in D.C. for the Democrats Abroad Conference Call.
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