Following the campaign, October 23
From Karin Caifa:
GOOD INK
Two nods of approval from two prominent names this week: writer Studs Terkel and “Bowling for Columbine” documentarian Michael Moore. The Onion’s A.V. Club (the part of the satirical publication that features real articles) speaks with Terkel this week. Here’s some of his thoughts on politics and on Kucinich, whom he has endorsed: “So Schwarzenegger gets elected because they know who he is. But they’ve never heard of a guy named Dennis Kucinich. You know who Dennis Kucinich is, don’t you? He’s the least-known of the nine candidates for the presidential Democratic ticket. He’s the one you don’t know. He’s by far the most qualified guy. Boy mayor of Cleveland. He fought corporate power and he won. He’s the chairman of the Progressive Caucus of the Democratic Party. He’s the one who first told Bush ‘Go to hell!’ when it came to the pre-emptive strike. He said ‘No!’ The first one to do it. He’s the one who said ‘No!’ when it came to sanctions, hurting, killing kids, you don’t hurt the brute Saddam at all. He’s the one who said ‘No!’ to tax cuts that would just benefit a few. But people don’t know who he is. He’s never mentioned in the news — just a throwaway phrase, ‘The ninth candidate.’ And he’s the closest thing there is to the answer. People looking for a guy with guts, with principles, here he is. And one in a thousand Americans knows his name. You’ve heard of Al Sharpton, you’ve heard of a million of those other guys, you’ve heard of that clown Joe Lieberman, who would be a perfect running mate for George W. Bush. Because we misuse our language.” Moore didn’t offer an endorsement, but told the folks at the University of California at Berkeley that he does “agree 100 percent with everything Dennis Kucinich stands for,” with the exception of Kucinich’s caveat on his abortion stance, where Kucinich says he is personally opposed to abortion but now supports a woman’s right to choose. Moore also called Howard Dean “a good guy” and said he liked the idea of a four-star general like Wesley Clark making a bid.
BAD INK
Poll woes continue for this campaign. The latest Zogby poll in Iowa didn’t have Kucinich in the cellar but still among the bottom third, ranking him seventh with just 1 percent of the share. A new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll says 76 percent of those polled said it makes no difference to them whether a presidential candidate has previously served in the U.S. Congress. That indifference was obvious in Kucinich’s case. The same poll showed Kucinich last among his candidate colleagues, polling at 3 percent nationwide.
MAYBE THEY COULD CLONE HIM?
Plans for Kucinich’s weekend were still up in the air Wednesday evening. Seems he’s told his schedulers there are two events he wants to attend on Saturday afternoon, the anti-war march on Washington and the New Hampshire AFL-CIO convention. Unfortunately they’re about 500 miles apart. His schedulers were presenting the ever-exuberant campaigner with three travel options in the hopes they can work something out. Kucinich has been one for solving scheduling difficulties in creative ways: When House votes conflicted with an appearence at the Dearborn, Mich., Arab-American conference last week, he did a tele-conference.
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