who reads that rag anymore? they are constantly bashing democrats. kucinich was among the very first in congress to say no to war but i don't think he will be able to pull off the nomination.
jeff | Email | Homepage | 02.19.03 - 10:16 am | #

"Leaves Howard Dean without a constituency."

Wow... TNR is right! Everyone who signed up for the Dean Meetup has now switchted to the Kucinich Meetup! Damn!
David | Email | Homepage | 02.19.03 - 12:45 pm | #

As I understand it, and please let someone correct me, Kucinich is very much anti-abortion. How will he have a prayer of getting nominated with such a view?

More media insanity.

DaveB
NYC
Dave | Email | Homepage | 02.19.03 - 1:36 pm | #

USA Today is saying the same thing:

"The immediate effect of Kucinich's entry, and to some extent Sharpton's and Moseley Braun's, is to undercut Dean's appeals to anti-war voters. Dean often says that unlike the congressman and three senators already in the race, he would have voted against a resolution last October authorizing use of force against Iraq."

I don't know, though... It seems to me that the entrance of hardcore liberals (take no offense - I consider myself one) into the race will actually HELP Dean. Howard Dean's "tortured waffling," as TNR put it, is nothing of the sort. I think it's what many if not most Americans are feeling. They'll support the war IF there's evidence and IF we're not alone. For Dean, I think it's a gutsy stand that doesn't pander to hawks OR doves. And the fact that Kucinich is pro-life and supports an anti-flag burning amendment isn't going to hurt Dean at all! Balanced budgets and states-rights on the Second Amendment are issues that are much more in the mainstream.

Sorry to take up so much room here. Long story short - between hawks like Graham, Lieberman, and Gephardt and doves like Kucinich, Moseley Braun, and Sharpton, Dean looks great. A moderate progressive Democrat with fresh ideas and the experience to back it all up.
Scott | Email | Homepage | 02.19.03 - 1:42 pm | #

When Kucinich said he was running, he said he would be pro-choice. Even with that flip-flop, if his 2% of the votes puts a dent in Dean's support, Dean will not have had enough support anyway.
CA Pol Junkie | Email | Homepage | 02.19.03 - 5:51 pm | #

Kucinich strong labor support does not hurt Dean....Kucinich actually hurts Gephardt.
JobyTodd | Email | Homepage | 02.19.03 - 6:35 pm | #

Followed Kucinich for a while, must say that I admire a lot of his viewpoints, take great issue with others.

All that aside, in this media age, you can't run a candidate that looks like Mr. Spock. It's a shame- Abe Lincoln would never be elected nowadays- but hard fact. Between that, his lack of a national power base (just his district), and his contrarian ideologies, I don't expect Kucinich to last terribly long.

My concerns lie in the sheer number of candidates entering the race- each one takes a piece of the money pie and activist manpower- and those quantities really don't regenerate 'till the nomination's settled.
Joe Mariani | Email | Homepage | 02.19.03 - 6:53 pm | #

Kucinich will make Pacifica listeners happy, but his anti-abortion votes and history of fiscal irresponsibility (he was mayor of Cleveland when it went bankrupt in the late 1970s)will not make big donors eager to open their checkbooks. Further, it is impossible for House members to make the leap from Congress to the nomination. When Kucinich was making his announcement, I INCREASED my donation to Dean.
CB | Email | Homepage | 02.19.03 - 7:26 pm | #

I'd rather see Kucinich as the Democratic nominee than Kerry, Lieberman, Gephardt, or any of the others (besides Dean, of course).
Dan B-P | Email | Homepage | 02.19.03 - 10:15 pm | #

Kucininch is as much a radical leftist as the worst of conservatives is a radical rightist. As Mayor "Kuch" drove Cleveland into bankruptcy; only by kicking him out of office did that city survive. His base is a socialist base. It is easy to fault Scalia as a Corset of Conservatism but at least he is intellectually gifted and so would learn if he were an elected official. Kuch never will.
Hobart Hummer | Email | Homepage | 03.09.03 - 11:24 am | #