The best-kept secret on the Democratic presidential campaign trail ignited St. Paul’s Central High School auditorium August 16, bringing the almost 1000-strong crowd repeatedly to its feet, cheering. Supporters of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) defy definition, spanning independents, Greens, veterans, students, peace activists, consumers and environmentalists. Doubts about his “electability” are greatly exaggerated—Kucinich won by 70 percent in 2001 in a traditionally Republican district. Willie Nelson is recording campaign ads for him and doing concert fundraisers with Ani DiFranco in Des Moines, Iowa, in early September. Grassroots campaign organizations are spreading like smoldering prairie fire across the country.


“When the Founders of our country spoke of ‘forming a more perfect union,’ it wasn’t just about politics. It was also about being able to be more than we are—about consciously evolving,” Kucinich evoked the recurring anthem of his St. Paul speech—”It’s not too late to seek a new world!”

Kucinich knows about transformation firsthand. Growing up poor, he had 21 addresses before age 17—including a car. His ex-Marine father was a truck driver who Kucinich said “died with his first retirement check uncashed in his pocket.” The oldest of seven, Kucinich was the first in his family to go to college. Degrees in communications took him from newsroom copy boy to radio, TV cameraman and lecturer, in between elected offices.

“First, you have to understand what Bush’s presidency is about: accelerating wealth upward. Its about putting the nation’s wealth into fewer and fewer hands,” Kucinich said in a KFAI interview in July, pointing to post-9/11 bailouts that gave airlines billions while their employees got massive layoffs. “The Bush economy is driven by the interests of a few at the expense of the many. That’s what the war and the tax cuts are about.” [ continue reading this excellent article ]

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