Kucinich brings his presidential message to Minneapolis
Originally published in the Star Tribune
Kucinich brings his presidential message to Minneapolis
Bob von Sternberg, Star Tribune
Published October 15, 2003
Dennis Kucinich may have little chance to capture the Democratic presidential nomination, but you wouldn't have known that from the raucous, rock-star style reception he got in Minneapolis Tuesday night.
More than 1,000 supporters jammed the auditorium at Roosevelt High School in south Minneapolis to hear the formal rollout of Kucinich's long shot presidential bid.
They gave him a roaring standing ovation, slapping high fives as he made his way to the stage, where he delivered his trademark anti-war, internationalist, unashamedly liberal stump speech.
"Our message says America can play a role in the world and rejoin the world community," Kucinich said. "We will work to put an end to war, and at this moment we begin the work of being repairers of the breach."
That breach, extending beyond the one that has opened with much of the international community, includes blacks, Latinos and Native Americans, Kucinich said.
Significantly, he picked up the endorsement Tuesday of Winona LaDuke, a White Earth Chippewa band member who was the Green Party's vice presidential candidate. "I'm well aware that Dennis is not a Green, but he's green in his heart," she said.
He also attracted a number of the supporters of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone. Bumper stickers and Wellstone signs on the stage attested to the overlap.
"He's someone who's got a plan I think we'll be proud of -- I like what he's willing to invest in, like peace," said Gabriela Sweet, of St. Paul. "He seems like a man with a heart. Can't win? People all said Paul couldn't win."
One of Kucinich's most prominent Minnesota backers, State Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, told the crowd: "There are a lot of similarities between Paul Wellstone and Dennis Kucinich. A lot of cynics said Dennis Kucinich is an also-ran. A lot said that about Paul Wellstone in 1990."
Kucinich's Minneapolis appearance was the ninth stop in a frenetic four-day, 12-city "announcement tour" that comes eight months after he began running for president.
He is the most recent Democrat to use a formal candidacy announcement to jump-start a campaign that has failed to gain much traction.
Recent polls show him attracting 1 to 3 percent support among likely Democratic voters, dead last among the party's nine candidates. In a recent poll in New Hampshire, where the first primary will be held, he registered zero percent.
His fundraising has sputtered, as well, having gathered $1.7 million in the three months ending June 30.
Carleton College political scientist Steven Schier said Kucinich has virtually no chance of winning the nomination, but added that he has nonetheless shaped the campaign.
"He's helped keep the liberal perspective in the Democratic debate, giving it more salience than it otherwise would have," Schier said. "It's a case where a Democrat who can't win still has an effect on the race."
A four-term congressman from suburban Cleveland, Kucinich chairs the Progressive Caucus in Congress, and his campaign Web page describes him as "the Progressive Choice."
Among the Democratic aspirants, he has staked out the most liberal platform by far. Its centerpiece is a steadfast opposition to the war in Iraq and a pacifist approach that would cut the Pentagon's budget and create a cabinet-level Department of Peace.
He also advocates pulling out of NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, scrapping the USA Patriot Act and establishing a universal single-payer health care system.
Kucinich, 57, has had a roller coaster of a political career that began when he was elected to Cleveland's City Council while still a college student. In 1977, when he was just 31, he was elected mayor. As the youngest person ever elected to lead a major American city, he was immediately dubbed "The Boy Mayor."
In less than two years, he steered the city into default, the first time that had happened to a city since the Depression. His new nickname: "Dennis the Menace."
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