Kucinich pursues chance to deliver antiwar message
Originally published in the Oregonian
Kucinich pursues chance to deliver antiwar message
04/14/04
JEFF MAPES
Now that the Democratic presidential race has been decided in favor of John Kerry, Oregon's presidential primary May 18 is barely a footnote.
To everybody but Dennis Kucinich, that is.
The Ohio congressman, the only rival to Kerry left in the race, plans to spend almost a full month campaigning in Oregon in hopes the state's voters will vault his antiwar candidacy into new prominence.
Kerry supporters and other neutral observers regard Kucinich's effort as largely quixotic. But Kucinich appears to be staking his campaign on the idea that Democratic voters in Oregon are increasingly ready to send the message that they want the United States to pull its troops out of Iraq.
"This campaign will give the people of Oregon an opportunity to help chart the direction of the Democratic Party on Iraq," Kucinich said in an interview Monday in Portland during his third trip to the state in as many weeks.
As he spoke, volunteers and staffers bustled around two converted houses on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard that serve as his local campaign headquarters.
Kucinich said he plans to spend 27 days in Oregon by the primary election. That would far exceed the time spent by any major-party presidential candidate in Oregon at least in the past three decades.
Until 1972, Oregon was one of a handful of states that held a presidential primary, making it an important stop for candidates seeking to show party bosses they would be an attractive nominee. But now that all states hold primaries or caucuses open to rank-and-file voters, the stature of Oregon's primary has dwindled.
Kucinich concedes he can't stop Kerry from winning the Democratic nomination. But of the remaining 13 primaries and caucuses -- including Colorado on Tuesday -- Kucinich thinks Oregon's large number of left-of-center Democrats offers him the best opportunity to win enough votes to force Kerry and party officials to pay attention to his message.
And as a new cycle of violence has gripped Iraq, Kucinich, 57, has talked increasingly about his candidacy as a referendum on the U.S. role there. He calls for a complete U.S. withdrawal in favor of turning over Iraq to the trusteeship of the United Nations.
"We've got to get our troops out of there," Kucinich said. "They are in harm's way, they are in danger, and they are a destabilizing factor."
Kerry also supports turning over more power to the United Nations and other international organizations but has said a quick pullout of troops could lead to chaos. In an opinion piece Tuesday for The Washington Post, Kerry said the United Nations should be the "primary civilian partner in working with Iraqi partners" to hold elections and rebuild the country.
But if the United States were to suddenly leave Iraq, "You have all the potential to have mass civil war and an Islamic state or a return of Saddam's Baath Party," said John Calhoun, a Kerry volunteer who is helping organize his campaign here. "There is no simple solution -- it is going to be a messy, complex situation."
Calhoun, a chief financial officer for a medical products company and, like Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, said the Massachusetts senator might visit Oregon before the primary.
Laura Capps, a Kerry spokeswoman, said that paid Kerry staffers also might be in place in Oregon before the primary, but that their main job will be organizing for the general election in November, when Oregon is expected to be a key battleground state.
U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., an early Kerry supporter, said he didn't think Kucinich's heavy campaigning in Oregon would make much of a dent in Kerry's support.
"I can honestly say Kucinich's name did not come up at the events I've been at, political or nonpolitical," said Blumenauer, who is in Portland because of a congressional recess.
Kucinich must get at least 15 percent of the primary vote in one of Oregon's five congressional districts to win any delegates to the national convention. He and Kerry will appear on Oregon's Democratic ballot with perennial candidate Lyndon Larouche.
Kucinich says he isn't making any predictions on how well he will do here.
Bill Lunch, a political scientist at Oregon State University, said Kucinich would be lucky to get 20 percent of the vote.
"This isn't about Kucinich winning delegates," he said. "This is about Kucinich establishing himself as one of the viable national Democrats of the left."
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