Kucinich meets with supporters around Michigan
Originally published in Michigan Live
Kucinich meets with supporters around Michigan
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
The Associated Press
12/4/03 6:48 PM
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- As former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader contemplates another national run, Democratic candidate Dennis Kucinich says a Nader campaign could help his own chances of nailing down the nomination.
"It makes it inevitable that the Democrats will have to nominate someone who has the ability to attract the Greens. And I do. This is the argument why I should be the nominee of the party," Kucinich said Thursday after a campaign appearance at an East Lansing community center.
Nader has authorized a new exploratory committee to raise money for a potential bid and is expected to make a decision about running early next year. Until now, he has been an active supporter of Kucinich, the Ohio congressman considered Nader's political soul mate on social and economic issues.
Nader won about 3 percent of the vote as the Green Party's candidate in 2000. Many voters blamed him for taking votes from Democrat Al Gore, paving the way for President Bush's narrow victory.
Nader has said he wouldn't get in the race if Kucinich won the Democratic nomination. But the congressman remains mired in the low single digits in most national and state polls, including those in Michigan.
Despite his numbers, Kucinich said Michigan is prime campaign territory because he thinks voters here support his promises to repeal trade agreements, replace U.S. troops in Iraq with forces overseen by the United Nations, offer universal health care and provide free college tuition.
Judging from the frequent applause he got from the nearly 200 people who packed the community center, those views struck a nerve with some.
"If the people of Michigan are looking for a candidate who's ready to take head-on this issue of trade, that's me. ... I've said that I'll cancel NAFTA and (abandon) the WTO and go back to bilateral trade," he said, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization.
That stance has won Kucinich the support of Bob Brown, 45, a Belding resident who's afraid he and 2,700 others are going to lose their jobs early next year if Swedish-owned Electrolux AB closes its refrigerator manufacturing plant in Greenville and moves production to Mexico.
"That's what's hurting our workers today, all our jobs going to Mexico," said Brown, a member of United Auto Workers Local 137 who has worked at the plant for 25 years.
Brown said that, when he heard this fall that the plant might close, he called all the presidential candidates' campaign offices to find out what could be done.
"He's the only one who responded," Brown said of Kucinich.
Mary Archambeau of Grand Ledge, a Lansing suburb, thinks more Americans need to hear Kucinich's message on the need to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq.
"I agree we shouldn't have gotten in there in the first place," said Archambeau, 68. She thinks any pullout must be gradual, but she liked that Kucinich has a plan to withdraw the troops.
Archambeau said she didn't have a favorite in the Democratic presidential race before she heard Kucinich but thought his message was "exactly what the country needs."
Clara Wilson, one of four Kucinich supporters who are walking to California promoting his campaign and world peace, said Thursday was the first time she'd actually come face-to-face with the candidate.
"It was exciting for me to finally meet him," said Wilson, a massage therapist from Lexington, Ky.
Earlier in the day, Kucinich spoke to nearly 150 supporters in Ann Arbor before joining picketers in front of a Borders book store. The picketing employees are protesting low wages.
He also discussed farm policy at the Michigan Farmers Union annual state convention being held in Lansing and attended a reception with supporters at Holistic Community Development Center in Detroit.
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