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Kucinich: fervently unconventional

By Harry Bruinius | Correspondent of The Christian
Science Monitor
<http://search.csmonitor.com/2004/0102/p01s03-uspo.html>

HOPKINTON, N.H. - Dressed in a long black overcoat,
looking a little like a wizened wizard from the snowy
New Hampshire woods, Dennis Kucinich strides confidently
into a chilly toolshed at Derek Owen's 200-acre organic
farm. As he stops to survey the 30 or so locals who have
come to hear him speak, he grins: These are his people.

There's Mr. Owen - his gray mutton-chop beard still
flecked with snow - holding dirty yellow work gloves as
he extends his greeting. His green cap, stuck with a
feather, reads, "Farm Here to Eternity." Over there, in
the corner, is Mark Lathrop, the burly proprietor of the
Monadnock Hemporium, wearing a broad-brimmed leather
cowboy hat. He's a fierce advocate for the
decriminalization of marijuana. Opposite him, near the
door, stands Elizabeth Obelenus, smiling. She's the tall
office manager for the Northeast Organic Farming
Association, the informal sponsor of the talk tonight,
and she's most worried about the unknown dangers of
genetically modified organisms.

They're all applauding. "Good job last night!" says one
of an older couple near the pegboard on the wall. "You
were our hero!" the other adds. As the diminutive
Cleveland congressman shakes their hands and nods, he
tells them he's been hearing the same all day. He'd
created a bit of a buzz the night before after lashing
out at Ted Koppel, the moderator of the debate in nearby
Concord, and scolding him for focusing on polls and
endorsements rather than important issues.

Like his nonconformist audience this evening, Mr.
Kucinich is a candidate with quirks. A strict vegan, he
would hardly be the type to throw a Crawford, Texas,
barbecue. A skilled ventriloquist, he keeps a dummy in
his office to entertain school kids who visit him on
field trips. Twice divorced, he recently went on an
early-morning blind date with a woman who had beaten out
79 others in a "Who Wants to Be a First Lady" contest,
put on by the website PoliticsNH.com.

And though he comes from the Rust Belt shores of Lake
Erie, he often speaks more as a New England
transcendentalist, straight from Walden Pond. "We need
to be certain that we have agricultural policies that
are rooted in a philosophy which connects us to the
power of nature itself," Kucinich tells the bundled-up
country folk gathered in the shed. "We need to recognize
the important role agriculture plays - like Derek's cap
says, 'Farm Here to Eternity.' "

One of his top priorities as president, he explains,
would be to break up the big corporations that control
the food supply and threaten the small farmers who have
long been the foundation of American democracy. In the
same 19th-century vein, Kucinich often urges his
audiences to read Emerson's "Self-Reliance," an essay he
says he's read at least once a year since he was a boy.
"Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron
string," he often quotes. "To believe that what is true
for you in your private heart is true for all men, -
that is genius."

Nonconformists, however, are by definition few and far
between, and Kucinich is near the bottom of the polls.
Beyond this band of pastoral farmers, few have even
heard of Dennis Kucinich - "Is he the one with the
ears?"

Yet it's become a refrain as he travels the well-worn
New Hampshire campaign trail: When people do hear him
speak, many admire his passion and "spin free" fervor.
As co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus,
Kucinich has been one of the most outspoken liberal
voices in the Democratic Party. Since he stakes out
positions that a more cautious candidate might consider,
well, politically eccentric, some voters find him both
curious and refreshing - though they think he cannot
win. "The others, they're all so boring - except for
Kucinich," says Ms. Obelenus. "Sure, he's a long shot,
but at first you've got to vote on principle, don't
you?" But then, hesitating, she asks with a worried
tone, "Do you think I'm throwing away my vote?"

As an unabashed liberal, Kucinich stands apart from the
other candidates. Earnest as a prophet, he proclaims the
need for a single-payer national healthcare system - as
do Al Sharpton and Carol Moseley Braun. But he is the
only to have offered a congressional bill, outlining a
concrete plan. And while Howard Dean has been an
outspoken opponent of the war in Iraq, Kucinich is the
only candidate to have actually cast a vote against the
resolution approving the US invasion. He also continues
to call for the immediate withdrawal of US troops.

He also proclaims he would extend free public education
all the way through college (which he implies would be
paid for by reducing the Pentagon budget and repealing
the Bush tax cuts), decriminalize marijuana, and ban
genetically modified organisms. He also envisions a
cabinet-level Department of Peace, which would,
according to his platform, redirect 1 percent of the
Pentagon budget to "establish non-violence as an
organizing principle in both domestic and international
affairs."

Though most find such ideas audacious, they rarely find
Kucinich politically calculating or insincere, and this
has won him a number of admirers.

Momentary boost

The next day, as Kucinich bounds up the steps of the
Simon Center at New England College, Eleanor Kjellman
stands beaming on the porch above him, waiting to shake
his hand.

The blue campaign button on her coat is blazoned with
CLARK04, but while watching the nine candidates debate,
she, too, had been most impressed by the strength and
poise of the Ohio congressman. Kjellman and her husband,
John, both longtime residents in Henniker, were so
thrilled they came to offer a show of support.

"We just wanted to thank you for speaking out the other
night," she says as Kucinich hops up and clasps her
outstretched hand. "You really took charge there and
said what needed to be said." Still, while the Kjellmans
smile and explain how the others lack his earnest, no-
nonsense style, they later concede Kucinich "probably
doesn't have a chance" - and that they don't intend to
stop supporting Wesley Clark.

Call it voter sophistication or just a sympathetic
respect for a futile, quixotic campaign, but so far,
many of his new admirers haven't become actual
supporters. Although he has raised about $5 million this
year - a respectable amount for his type of campaign -
this is far less than top-tier candidates like Dr. Dean,
and Kucinich's poll numbers languish at 1 to 3 percent.

Still, he has overcome enormous obstacles throughout his
life. The oldest of seven children, Kucinich grew up in
an Ohio family that struggled with poverty. They moved
to 21 places - "including a couple cars," he says - by
the time he was 17. And despite being a flyweight 5-
foot-6 kid in high school, he went out for football and
made third-string quarterback.

He entered politics at a very young age, winning a seat
on the Cleveland City Council when he was 23. Eight
years later, in 1977, he ran for mayor and became the
youngest person ever to head a major US city. After
hiring and then firing a popular police chief, however,
he barely survived a recall a year later.

While mayor, he also refused to sell the city-owned
utility, Muny Light. A number of the city's creditors
were demanding he sell the power company to a private
competitor, and when Mayor Kucinich refused, they called
in $15 million of Cleveland's debt, plunging the city
into default. Kucinich lost the next election.

Over a decade later, most observers believed his refusal
to sell Muny saved taxpayers more than $200 million. The
stage was set for a political comeback. Using a light
bulb as his campaign symbol, Kucinich won a seat in the
Ohio State Senate in 1994 and then a seat in the US
House in 1996. In 2002, he won his district with 74
percent of the vote.

An overt spirituality

There is a mystical quality to the boyish Cleveland
congressman, and he may be the most overtly spiritual of
the Democratic candidates. Some have described him as
fiery, but when his oratory becomes animated, it can
seem more an enlivened gentleness. He often pauses when
he speaks - long pauses with vacant stares that seem
like contemplation. Indeed, in his introductions at
campaign appearances, he always tells his audience that
his politics is grounded in "a spiritual sense of the
interconnectedness of the world," and he nearly always
invokes the Gospels in explaining the themes of his
campaign.

"With all those who understood the deeper meaning of the
Gospels in Matthew 25, when Christ said, 'When I was
hungry did you feed me? When I was homeless did you
shelter me?' and then went on to say, 'Whatever you did
for the least of my brethren, you did for me' - that's
the interconnectedness," he said in an interview with
the Monitor. "That is the leitmotif of
interconnectedness, right there, it says it all. And so
my work in public life resounds with that connection to
higher principles and with an understanding of the power
of the human heart."

Growing up Roman Catholic, Kucinich pored over the
Scriptures in Latin, studied the lives of the saints,
and read the economic issues reflected in papal
encyclicals. He also became very influenced by Dorothy
Day and the Catholic Workers Movement. Spiritual
principles, he believes, can transform the material
world.

"My politics derives an understanding from this,"
Kucinich explains. "While our fathers understood well
the importance of the separation of church and state,
they never meant America to be separate from spiritual
values. Spiritual values can improve our own health, our
spirit, our nation, and the world."

In many ways, Kucinich taps into a unique form of
American optimism, rooted in spiritual principles. His
rhetoric often echoes the famous image first preached by
the Puritan leader John Winthrop, who proclaimed that
America would become a "city upon a hill" if its people
remained obedient to God's commands.

"It is your light which will shine in the darkness," he
proclaimed to workers at a union rally earlier this
year. "It is you who will lay the foundation for ages to
come. It is you who will repair the breach. It is you
who will lead the American Restoration."

At the union hall

It's just after noon, and some 300 lunch-pail workers
are gathered at the Plumbers and Steamfitters Union Hall
in Hooksett. In an adjacent room, Kucinich has that
nervous look people get before speaking. He tugs at his
cuffs, straightens his tie, and sets his jaw in
determination.

Just as he's about to stride into the rally, however,
the union leader at the podium yells, "Is Governor Dean
in the building? No?" It seems the Democratic front-
runner is making an unplanned stop. He'll speak first,
so Kucinich must wait.

When Dean finally arrives, he's beaming like a rooster,
leading an entourage of almost 60 reporters - TV people
with boom mikes and cameras. It's a very different type
of scene now.

When Dean leaves, many of the union workers leave, too.
Kucinich's crowd is down to less than 200 - plus the six
or so newspaper reporters following him.

As he takes the podium and surveys the room, Kucinich
pauses. He considers these his people, too. "Brothers
and sisters," he says as he pulls out his AFL-CIO
membership card from his wallet, "there's a lot of
alligator tears being shed for the 'poor workers,' but
who's addressing these issues about what we need to do
about NAFTA and the WTO?"

The crowd is tepid at first, but slowly, as Kucinich's
voice begins to rise, they start to cheer. Soon, they
erupt and yell as the gentle wizard before them gestures
with his index finger and proclaims the rights of
workers: "It's about the right to decent wages and
benefits, the right to a safe workplace, the right to a
secure retirement. It's about electing a president you
can call your own, and that's me!"

The crowd is buzzing. One man turns to another and says,
"Wow, he was great!" The button on his coat, however,
reads "Organized Labor for Gephardt."

The Kucinich File

Born: Dennis John Kucinich, Oct. 8, 1946.

Parents: Frank, a truck driver; and Virginia.

Religion: Roman Catholic.

Family: Married and divorced twice; he has one daughter,
Jackie, 21 [from 2nd marriage].

Education: BA, speech communications, Case Western
Reserve University, 1973; MA, communication sciences,
Case Western, 1974.

Itineracy: Lived in 21 places by age 17, including back
seats of cars, and spent five months in a Catholic
orphanage with his siblings while in the sixth grade. He
moved into an apartment at the beginning of high school,
to escape a chaotic family life.

Previous occupations: Worked as a caddie to help pay his
tuition at St. John Cantius, a private Catholic high
school in Cleveland; Municipal courts clerk, 1976-77;
radio talk-show host, 1979; lecturer, 1980-83; media
consultant, 1986-94; television reporter, 1989-92; also
worked as a copy editor at the Cleveland Plain Dealer
and The Wall Street Journal, and as a surgical
technician at Cleveland's St. Alexis Hospital.

Military history: None. He was declared ineligible for
the draft due to a heart murmur.

Diet: He's a vegan - a strict vegetarian who avoids all
animal and dairy products.

Favorite song: 'Imagine' by John Lennon.

Political highlights:

* Cleveland City Council, 1970-75 (elected at age 23).

* Cleveland mayor, 1977-79 (elected at age 31 and was
called the 'boy mayor'; survived a recall effort by 236
votes).

* Ohio State Senate, 1994-96.

* Member of the US House of Representatives, 1996-
present.

* Chair of Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Campaign touchstones:

* Would eliminate NAFTA and the World Trade
Organization.

* Wants to make healthcare and education constitutional
rights.

* Proposes a 15 percent cut in Pentagon spending and a
'Department of Peace.'

* Supports gay marriage as 'a fundamental civil rights
issue.'

* Supports abortion rights, though he once opposed
abortion.

Key legislative positions:

* Opposed the Iraq war; has urged President Bush to
withdraw all American soldiers from Iraq and cede
control to the UN.

* Opposed Bush's proposal for $87 billion to fund Iraq
and Afghanistan operations.

* Critic of the USA Patriot Act, sweeping antiterror
legislation post-9/11.

Sources: Compiled from wire services, CNN, Slate, San
Francisco Chronicle, The Daily Oklahoman, The New York
Times, The Des Moines Register, The Washington Post,
Austin American-Statesman, Chicago Tribune, Cleveland
Plain Dealer.


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DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
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CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
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sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
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Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
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