Presidential candidate Kucinich in Denver to tout peace platform
Originally published in the Denver Post
Article Published: Sunday, September 28, 2003
Presidential candidate Kucinich in Denver to tout peace platform
By Joey Bunch
Denver Post Staff Writer
Dennis Kucinich, the darkest of dark-horse Democrats running for president, offered himself to Denver supporters during a day-long visit Friday as the peace candidate to take on the war president.
The congressman from Ohio trashed President Bush on the Iraq war, coziness with the oil industry and, particularly, his honesty.
"It's only when the very narrow interest of certain economic groups masquerade as national interest does war become part of the discussion," Kucinich said. "We need to begin the work to make war archaic."
Denver political analyst Eric Sondermann called Kucinich a niche candidate staking out the liberal high ground "left of the left."
Kucinich said he would create a Cabinet-level Department of Peace, fight global warming, allow gay unions, end the death penalty, overhaul the health care system, and punish polluters and corporate swindlers.
The former mayor of Cleveland, who's also a vegan, got a warm but sparse reception at the Auraria campus, where about 150 supporters turned out.
Of the 10 Democrats seeking the nomination, Kucinich is the only one so far who wants to bring home troops from Iraq immediately and cut military spending.
"The United States made a colossal blunder in attacking Iraq," Kucinich said. "Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or al-Qaeda's role in 9/11, (or) the anthrax attacks in this country. Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and no ability or intention to attack this country.
"We were wrong. ... It's time for the United States to get out of Iraq."
He said the Bush administration should not pocket the profits of Iraq's oil or dole out massive contracts to corporate buddies.
According to polls and pundits, Kucinich is the longest of longshots. He flew in on a commercial flight, landing almost an hour late at Denver International Airport to greet about 30 supporters in the terminal.
He rode in a minivan, and his only obvious security was one guy with a gruff voice in a starched shirt.
He won't last long when the campaigns heat up and the field narrows, Sondermann predicted.
"He adds entertainment value to the field; he adds passion," Sondermann said. "But the negative effect he has is that he pulls the Democratic Party further to the left, and I don't know that the party can afford that."
Supporters disagree.
"He's not going to back down from that progressive platform to appease anybody," said Patrick West, the Broomfield software engineer volunteering as the campaign's state manager.
Asked if he would jump ship to the Green Party if Democrats reject him, Kucinich dodged the question.
"I've been asked about running as a third-party candidate, and my intention is to establish a second party," he said.
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