Reports from the campaign trail, November 4
From Melinda Arons:
Nov. 4 — There's a new addition to the cast of characters behind the Kucinich campaign: Derek Scalia. But he couldn't be further from the conservative Supreme Court justice with the same last name.
Scalia is one of the student coordinators for Kucinich at Franklin Pierce College, the 1,500-student, 40-year-old campus in tiny Rindge, New Hampshire, where last night the Congressman became the first presidential candidate ever to speak on the campus. A junior at Pierce, Scalia chose the remote school specifically because he wanted to be in New Hampshire for the 2004 primary. He started paying attention to Kucinich a year ago, before Kucinich himself knew if he would run, and says that for the first time in his life he agrees 100 percent with his candidate. He thinks Socialism got a bum rap when it got unfortunately entangled with Communism and is quick to point out that the only time he's ever aligned himself with Justice Scalia in any way is when he uses the name to gain admittance to the Supreme Court chambers to hear cases in which he's interested. Just your average male college junior, Kucinich-style.
Kucinich will put off filing for the New Hampshire Primary as well as other planned events in the state Tuesday in order to fly home to Cleveland and vote in the city council and mayoral elections there. He will return to New England to attend the Rock the Vote forum. The tension was palpable Monday between the New Hampshire staff, desperate to get the candidate to as many Granite State appearances as possible, and the national team, who doesn't want it to appear as though Kucinich is neglecting his responsibilities at home.
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