The highest of the low
Originally published in the Portsmouth Herald
The highest of the low
By Kate McCann
Associated Press
CONCORD - The latest poll had him at 1 percent, but presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich is running strongly for a title he doesn’t want - front-runner of the bottom tier in the New Hampshire presidential primary.
In a field of nine major Democrats, the Ohio congressman is clustered at the bottom in polls with former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
But Kucinich has campaigned more here than the others, especially since formally announcing last month. And, unlike the others, he has both a visible state organization and some money.
"Look at that turnout. No other campaign has that enthusiasm, that following. No one can dispute it now," Kucinich said after a recent appearance in Manchester. "We will have a showing in New Hampshire."
His campaign claims at least 350 volunteers in the state, whose primary is Jan. 27.
Though an American Research Group poll released Thursday gave Sharpton 0 percent and Moseley Braun and Kucinich 1 percent each, a deeper look gave Kucinich some reason to be optimistic. While Moseley Braun and Sharpton’s name-recognition and favorability has been essentially unchanged all year, Kucinich’s name-recognition has quintupled, from 13 percent in February to 63 percent this month.
National campaign finance reports last month showed Kucinich had raised $3.4 million in his campaign. In comparison, Sharpton and Moseley Braun reported $272,000 and $342,000, respectively.
Kucinich also is the leader in New Hampshire visits this year with 13. Democracy in Action, a Web site tracking the campaigns, credits Sharpton with three visits to New Hampshire in January and February but none since.
Moseley Braun was a no-show between February and October, though she spent most of last week campaigning here.
The former "boy mayor" of Cleveland, Kucinich is an inner-city native, unabashedly liberal candidate who supports gay marriage, wants to destroy all nuclear weapons and cut the Pentagon budget by 15 percent.
During his announcement tour, supporters with shining faces and clenched fists stomped their feet and chanted his name in Manchester as the 5-foot-7-inch, 135-pound candidate told them they had the power to change America.
Kucinich’s biggest fight may be shaking the perception that a vote for him is a wasted vote, pollster Dick Bennett said.
"The race is about who’s the best person to beat George Bush. The person to do that - it won’t be decided on the issues. It will be decided on who’s the best fighter," Bennett said.
So far, voters see former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean as that person, Bennett said.
To break out of the bottom tier, Kucinich will have to spend more time here and strengthen his campaign organization, Bennett said.
Kucinich directly attacked Dean recently, asking New Hampshire television stations to pull ads he said portrayed Dean as the only anti-war candidate. A year ago, Kucinich led the fight in the House against the resolution authorizing the war.
Bennett questioned whether the fight was worth it.
"The average voter isn’t interested in the process," he said. "Spending time trying to get Dean’s ads of the air - they don’t care. They want to know, ‘How are you going to help me?"’
Moseley Braun earned her political stripes as an advocate for the poor back home in Illinois. A black woman from a big city, she says she is not fazed about competing in one of the wealthiest, whitest states in the nation - and one with no big cities.
When she first considered a run for the Illinois legislature, she said she was told: "Blacks won’t vote for you because you’re not from the Chicago machine. Whites won’t vote for you because you’re black. And nobody will vote for you because you’re a woman."
Campaign spokesman Kevin Lampe said that in races for local offices, Moseley Braun has won Cook County, which has four times the population of New Hampshire and includes wealthy, Republican-leaning suburbs.
Lampe said Moseley Braun will target undecided Democrats in New Hampshire, 21 percent in Bennett’s latest poll.
Dante Scala, who teaches a course on the primary at Saint Anselm College, said Kucinich could earn some support with the liberal elite in New Hampshire college towns. But he guesses Kucinich is in the race mostly to get his message out, especially against the war and for universal, single-payer health care.
"It’s really been a low investment," Scala said. "He gets to participate in debates, he gets national coverage and he gets on the same platform as everybody else."
Sharpton’s campaign did not return telephone calls or e-mails Thursday and Friday.
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