Convention Report: Kucinich's Calls for Unity Bring Cheers
A convention report from the Kucinich website:
The "last man standing" in the Democratic Presidential sweepstakes? Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich stood before thousands of Party members and supporters at the national convention last night to issue a call for Party unity and express his strong support for Sen. John Kerry. As happened everywhere on the long campaign trail, his passionate articulation of Democratic Party issues and the principles on which he campaigned through every primary and caucus in the nation brought the crowd to their feet with frequent outbursts of applause, cheers, and sign-waving support.
As he hammered those same core issues last night, he urged all Democrats, including his own die-hard supporters, to help Kerry win the presidency.
Although only 67 of the 4,300 delegates were of- ficially pledged to him, the warm reception he received as he began his speech grew larger and more fervent as he once again passionately addressed his core issues: peace, health care, fair trade, and civil rights, recalling the names and legacies of former Democratic presidents and party icons, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Paul Wellstone.
"The history of social and economic progress in America was written by the Democratic party," he said to cheers and applause. "And we are the party of John Kerry, the next great Democratic President of the United States," he added, to even more cheers.
The entire assemblage rose to its feet in overwhelming agreement when he began talking about his tenure as Mayor of Cleveland, where, he said, "I saw weapons of mass destruction: Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction, joblessness is a weapon of mass destruction, homelessness is a weapon of mass destruction, racism is a weapon of mass destruction, fear is a weapon of mass destruction. We must go out and fight these weapons of mass destruction!"
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