Reports from the campaign trail, October 23
From Melinda Arons:
Kucinich strategizes his attacks
Oct. 23 — Kucinich has shied away from launching any major attacks, mainly because it's simply not his nature and he feels uncomfortable doing so. One could also speculate it's because he doesn't wish to burn bridges with the potential nominee. Instead Kucinich favors attacks on the party in general and on the other candidates as a group for voting for the Iraq resolution, voting for the $87 billion, supporting the existence of U.S. troops in Iraq, and not promoting universal health care.
The closest the Congressman has gotten to attacking specific candidates is at debates or forums, specifically Howard Dean for not advocating universal health care and Dick Gephardt for standing with the president on the Iraq resolution, the latter of which Kucinich identifies as the key reason the Democrats lost seats in the interim election.
Though Kucinich is certainly not close with any of his opponents, he probably has the warmest relations with Al Sharpton and John Edwards. Edwards' wife Elizabeth counts herself as a Kucinich fan and has made a special effort to seek him out at debates to say hello.
The Kucinich campaign is trying to reinvigorate its New Hampshire operation, which has lagged in recent months after an initial flurry of activity. With a spruced up organization including new offices and staffers, the campaign hopes former volunteers who have strayed will "see the light."
Says New Hampshire press secretary Richard Hendrick, "At the town hall meeting tonight you could see people getting born again."
Hendrick admits, however, that Kucinich can't survive a poor finish in New Hampshire: "We absolutely need a surprise. We cannot come in 7th or 8th … .if you deliver a surprise you get a big injection of cash and the media start paying attention. If you don't it's much, much harder. It's harder to do than in Iowa because if you do better than expected there, people can discount it as not being a real primary, but in New Hampshire it's the real thing."
Still, Hendrick says Kucinich is "gonna stay in it 'til the last man's standing," and feels optimistic that it's early enough in the race to be able to deliver such a surprise come primary time.
Kucinich had an action-packed day in New Hampshire Wednesday, including homeless shelter visits, store tours, a town hall and an evening reception, but the event the campaign was most excited about was one where most of the attendees can't even vote: a speech at Concord High School, where Challenger astronaut Krista McAuliffe once taught.
Why spend valuable campaigning time with a group where only a handful can vote? Hendrick says, "Dennis is so enthusiastic, he probably doesn't think enough about election politics, but he's just really interested in connecting with these people." The campaign is even considering launching a "Virgin Votes for Kucinich" effort to mobilize first-time voters.
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