Muslims For Kucinich

Manchester, N.H. A Catholic school nun sent a box full of clothes to the Kucinich home in Cleveland one day in the 1950s.

The Kuciniches were poor, and father Frank Kucinich earned little driving a delivery truck. The family moved from house to house in Cleveland in the mid-1950s, often being evicted because they couldn't scrape together the monthly rent.

Times were tough and Dennis J. Kucinich had only a few outfits to wear, until the nun stepped in.

Kucinich, now 57, an Ohio congressman and Democratic candidate for president, readily talks about his hardscrabble youth along the campaign trail, how he lived in 21 homes by the time he was 17, how he slept in the back seat of the family car, how he often felt out of place.

It's what shapes his political message: He says he is the only candidate who will pick a fight with the oil barons, Wall Street crooks, and war mongers.

"My whole life has been about taking the side of people who are told 'No way,' " Kucinich tells a group of Nashua High School students last month.

Supporters say Kucinich is willing to do what he believes is right, regardless of the political cost.

When he was mayor of Cleveland, Kucinich refused to sell the municipal light company to a private firm. The banks said Kucinich had no choice, because the city would go into default if it didn't sell the utility.

That saved taxpayers close to $100 million but angered so many voters that he lost re-election.

"Voters want somebody to be solid and decisive about what they're doing. That's one of the things I like about Kucinich he talks straight," says Manny Krasner, a voter from Farmington, N.H., who attended a recent Kucinich campaign stop.

Kucinich's life story reads like a Horatio Alger tale, with a decided twist.

Kucinich says he learned to read by age 3 and became a well-spoken and studious young man. As the oldest child in a family of Croatian heritage, he was thrust into a leadership role, pushing his younger siblings to excel at school or sports.

But at times he doubted whether the family could stay together.

At Thanksgiving in 1957, 10-year-old Kucinich and his siblings were sent to stay at a Catholic orphanage. His mother, Virginia, was hospitalized with what may have been postpartum depression after giving birth to their fifth child. Several months later, the children were taken to stay with relatives in Michigan, while his father remained in Cleveland and his mother recovered.

"I remember sitting in the back seat as we were driving there thinking, 'God, I hope we can keep this family together.' Just literally praying that would happen," Kucinich told Cleveland Magazine in 1996.

He moved out at 17, got a job with the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and enrolled at Cleveland State University. He later transferred to Case Western Reserve University, where he completed his master's degree in speech and communication.

It led to a meteoric rise through Cleveland politics. Running as an "urban populist," Kucinich appealed to blue-collar voters and won a City Council seat at 23.

Eight years later Kucinich was elected mayor, the youngest of a major American city. But the city went into default, the only city to do so since the Great Depression, and voters held Kucinich accountable because he would not sell off the city utility. Kucinich suddenly found himself the target of death threats, and wore a bulletproof vest in public.

He survived a recall election, but lost a re-election bid.

The man once called the "boy wonder" of Ohio politics spent the next 16 years trying to keep a job, from radio talk show host, lecturer, and energy consultant to television news reporter. He tried to re-enter politics in 1982, losing a bid for Ohio Secretary of State.

That year he reported a yearly income of $38 on his federal tax return.

Kucinich re-entered politics in 1995, winning a state Senate seat. After a two-year term, he was elected to the U.S. House. He is chairman of the House Progressive Caucus and is viewed by most political analysts as the most liberal-minded of the Democratic field, even more so than former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the [former] Democratic front-runner.

During his mid-30s, when Kucinich was down on his luck, he spent much of several years in New Mexico reflecting on his purpose in life. Kucinich says he began to envision a world where every person realizes they are part of an interconnected whole. And he became a vegetarian, because he values all species as sacred. (At an Iowa campaign stop, Kucinich ate corn on the cob while other candidates sampled Iowa-bred beef.)

Announcing his presidential campaign, Kucinich said, "We can make of this world a gift of peace which will confirm the presence of universal spirit in our lives. We can send into the future the gift which will protect our children from fear, from harm, from destruction."

Kucinich has called for immediately withdrawing from Iraq, cutting defense spending by 15 percent and creating a cabinet-level Department of Peace that would focus on not only fostering world harmony, but reducing violence in communities and households.

He has called for a universal health-care system in which private insurance companies would be eliminated, and a nonprofit government agency would pay benefits. The system would be paid for from current Medicare and Medicaid spending, plus a phased-in tax on businesses of 7.7 percent.

He also has proposed repealing the North American Free Trade Agreement and withdrawing the U.S. from the World Trade Organization to prevent the loss of manufacturing jobs.

If Kucinich supporters share a common thread, it is that they embrace unconventional ideas.

"I don't believe he has all the answers, but he has the willingness to try different things," says Christopher Pearson of Burlington, Vt.

"If you look at some of the great leaders ... Franklin D. Roosevelt tried a lot of things. He didn't stand before America and say, 'I have all the solutions.' He said, 'Let's try this out.' "

New Hampshire political insiders say Kucinich's supporters are unique because they seem more passionate about their causes, regardless of how politically challenging.

"There is sort of a purity about the Kucinich supporters where it's not about whether he can win, it's about really where he is on the issues," says Kathy Sullivan, chairwoman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. "They are probably some of the most dedicated supporters I've seen. People would get up and say these heartfelt things: 'I believe in peace' or 'I believe in worker protection.' It was the most fun event I've been to."

Mary MacArthur, Kucinich's campaign coordinator in New Hampshire, says the candidate's message is ideal for Granite State voters' independent streak.

"A lot of us in New Hampshire are cantankerous and like to make up our own minds," she says. "He's talking about instituting real democracy. He's talking about empowering people. That's something that crosses issues. That is what resonates with people."

Dexter F. Arnold of Nashua, says Kucinich is the only candidate he has seen who has talked seriously about protecting the right of workers to have decent wages and benefits.

But Kucinich's message has scarcely resonated here, as polls consistently show him with 4 percent or less support.

Many progressive Democrats are faced with the dilemma of voting for Kucinich to send a message, or voting for another Democrat whose chances of beating President Bush are greater.

"I think he's unfortunately suffering from perception. I think it's a perception of electability," says Sullivan, the state party chairwoman.

They also worry about nominating a dovish candidate like Kucinich in a year when fears of terrorism at home are high and the Bush administration can point to the capture of Saddam Hussein.

"There are a fair number of very liberal, progressive Democrats in New Hampshire. I think that segment of the party is very likely to identify with Kucinich, but they will probably vote with their heads and go with Dean," says Dante Scala, a political science professor at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm's College. [ed. note: or maybe they'll go with Kerry or Edwards at this point; this article was obviously written before the Iowa results came in]