Notes from the campaign trail, January 4
From Melinda Arons:
AUSTIN, TEX., Jan. 4 – The phrase "Kucinich country" doesn't exactly evoke images of the deep heart of Texas, but the state's left-leaning capital city, where tie-dyed-colored bumpers stickers beseech residents to "Keep Austin Weird," did everything it could to change that with its enthusiastic reception of the peace candidate this weekend.
Kucinich had a child-like smile plastered on his face throughout the weekend, aglow with the gathering of his most famous endorsers for the campaign's largest fundraising push yet, and seemingly undeterred by the fact that his poll numbers are so stagnant that the latest Time/CNN survey didn't even bother to name him as a candidate.
Dinner and an auction kicked off the weekend Friday night, with items including signed Doobie Brothers posters, organic food baskets and a two-day course titled "Understanding Yourself and Others" (one attendee quipped loudly that someone should buy the course and give it to George W. Bush) bringing in about $300 apiece. But the main event was the sold-out, 1,600-seat benefit concert Saturday night headlined by Austin's favorite son Willie Nelson and "Queen of the Blues" Bonnie Raitt, with performances by former Doobie Brothers Michael McDonald and Pat Simmonds. Actor and '60's radical James Cromwell and "Dharma and Greg" actress Mimi Kennedy also made several appearances. Event organizer Suzanne Thompson told ABC News that the events, along with as yet uncalculated web donations, raked in approximately $100,000.
Kucinich got a little bit country during the concert, keeping his remarks brief but joining the performers onstage and the frenzied audience at the end for Nelson-led renditions of "I Saw the Light" and "This Little Light of Mine." And despite the cheers the legendary Nelson got for old favorites like "On the Road Again," he got the greatest applause for the anti-war ballad he penned Christmas
Day titled "Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth", in which he asks "How much oil is one human life worth?"
The self-proclaimed "live music capital of the world" was abuzz with talk of the candidate's appearance, making it one of the very few cities Kucinich has visited where the majority of people actually know who he is and even actively support him. Scores of local television crews appeared at every event, hardly a regular occurrence for the media-starved Kucinich, and a familiar sight around town was the "Kucinich-mobile," a VW bug belonging to a fuscia-haired local supporter, painted with red and white stripes and blue lettering spelling out Kucinich's key issues and plastered with "We Want the Kooch!" bumper stickers. According to the campaign (but not confirmed by Capitol police), between 800 and 1,000 people turned out to hear the Congressman's fiery anti-war speech on the Capitol steps, which culminated with Kucinich carrying around a small girl waving a rainbow-colored peace banner while the crowd struck up a chorus of "Give Peace a Chance."
Kucinich will continue to press the theme he pounded home in Austin, that this election will be a referendum on Iraq and as the only candidate pledging to get troops out immediately he will emerge victorious, as he spends the next several weeks in Iowa and New Hampshire. He will also tout his most recent fundraising numbers as thrusting him into the stratosphere of the top-tier candidates, which with the approximate 4th quarter earnings of $1.6 million bringing the total to about $5 million, with matching funds eventually pushing the number up to about $9 million. [ed. note: well, honey, it certainly puts him well ahead of the "fringe" candidates that you'd like to class him with]
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