Kucinich not ready to quit
Originally published in the Cincinnati Post
Kucinich not ready to quit
By Kevin Eigelbach
Post staff reporter
The race for the Democratic presidential nomination has become like the television program "Survivor," candidate Dennis Kucinich said on Wednesday.
Appearing before a crowd of about 40 in Over-the-Rhine, Kucinich said he's not going to vote himself off the island, however.
"I'm not leaving," the congressman from Cleveland said.
"The trees on that island will leave before I will."
Earlier on Wednesday, former Vermont governor Howard Dean dropped out of the race, leaving three candidates besides Kucinich -- Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
In the race so far, Kucinich has run a distant third to Kerry and Edwards. But his left-of-center message resonated with the audience at Buddy's Place.
Applause greeted his call for a nonprofit health-care system with a 100 percent prescription drug benefit. He called it a defining moral issue for the country.
Some nodded their heads when he talked of making reparations to blacks for slavery and to American Indians for stealing their land.
The Biblical prophet Isaiah called for us to be "repairers of the breach," he said.
He talked of starting a massive public works program to rebuild America's cities, an idea that Otis Stevens said he liked.
The Over-the-Rhine resident told Kucinich that in his neighborhood, unemployment is running at about 60 percent.
"He knows what needs to be done," said the 41-year-old Stevens. "The problem is, can he do it?"
Diane Sollberger, 45, of Dayton, Ky., said she liked what Kucinich had to say about health care because she can't afford any at the moment.
She said she doubted that Kucinich would become the Democratic nominee. "But, damn, I wish he was going to be," she added.
"We do need somebody who can beat Bush," said Arlene Turner of Over-the-Rhine.
The 48-year-old hasn't made up her mind which Democrat she will vote for, but said that she liked Kucinich's advocacy of a living wage.
"He seems to understand or at least articulate some of the concerns that the working class has," she said.
But she said his ideas go against the prevailing political climate, and she wondered how he could change it.
While in town, Kucinich also stopped at a fund-raiser in Clifton, and at the University of Cincinnati for "Imagine America," a public dialogue on employment, affordable housing and fair trade.
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