|
 Dennis
Kucinich
 excerpts
from
the Iowa Daily Report
August 2003
… Wannabe
story that probably baffled Boston Globe
readers yesterday – Do they really care if
Willie Nelson is appearing on Kucinich radio
spots in Iowa? Boston Globe excerpt: “Country
singer Willie Nelson is taking his support for
Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis
Kucinich to the radio waves this week.
‘Hey Iowa. This is Willie Nelson,’ says the
singer, as his hit song ‘On the Road Again’
plays in the background. ‘I don't usually get
too involved in politics, but I'm supporting
Congressman Dennis Kucinich for
president. I know Dennis and I know he
speaks up for heartland Americans who need a
stronger voice,’ Nelson says in the 30-
and 60-second spots. The ads, paid for by
Kucinich for President, are running this
week on several Iowa radio stations to
promote a benefit concert Nelson is performing
for Kucinich in Des Moines on Labor Day.
Nelson also will be playing benefit concerts
for Kucinich in Cleveland and Madison,
Wis. Kucinich, an Ohio congressman,
plans to make an official announcement of his
candidacy around Labor Day.”(8/1/2003)
…
In San Francisco, five wannabes outline
health care plans with two – Kucinich and
Moseley Braun – favoring universal approach
over private insurance system. Excerpts
from coverage of forum – at the United Food
and Commercial Workers’ convention – by the
San Francisco Chronicle’s Victoria Colliver:
“While all promised to reduce the number of
uninsured, two of the 2004 candidates -- Rep.
Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and former Sen.
Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois --
supported throwing out the private insurance
system in favor of a universal, single-payer
plan in the style of Medicare with a
prescription drug coverage. Former Vermont
Gov. Howard Dean and Sen. John Kerry of
Massachusetts, who joined the forum from
Washington, D.C., via satellite, proposed
expanding government programs to cover more
people. Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri
offered a plan to extend tax credits to
businesses to subsidize coverage to all
employees. While it's estimated to cost
more than $200 billion its first year -- more
than any of the plans on the table --
Gephardt promises it will cover 97 percent
of Americans. Gephardt wants to repeal
the Bush tax cuts, which he called a joke, and
put that money into health care…While
Gephardt sees keeping the health coverage
for those who already have it as an advantage,
candidates with a more purist approach to
universal coverage criticized his plan for
retaining too much of what they considered a
broken system. ‘I'm recognizing unless we
get the private sector out of health care, we
will never have health care for everybody in
this country,’ Kucinich told about
4,500 UFCW delegates gathered at the Moscone
Center. The union is concerned about health
care benefits, especially in light of its
efforts to unionize Wal-Mart Stores Inc…Kucinich's
proposal to establish a single-payer system
would cover all Americans, but critics
question whether there is the political will
to pass such a sweeping change. Moseley
Braun, who also supports such a system, said
she wants to shift the cost burden from
payroll taxes to income taxes because that
would decouple health care from employment.
‘Part of the problem is we have an
employment-based system,’ she said, adding
that the high cost of health care puts
American businesses at a competitive
disadvantage with businesses from other
countries that do not have to pay for health
care. Dean, also a physician, touted
the fact he has passed a state budget that
included extended health care coverage to
Vermont residents. ‘The advantage I have is
I have done it,’ he said…Kerry said
his plan lowers the cost of premiums by having
the government cover ‘catastrophic’ or
high-risk cases instead of allowing them to
remain in the employee risk pool. He said his
plan, which he says would cover 27 million
people immediately, would also help people pay
for 75 percent of the cost of COBRA, or
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation
Act, which allows employees who leave or who
were laid off to pay for their group coverage
for a limited time. Kerry said the
country needs to stop considering health care
to be a privilege. ‘Health care is a right
for every single American. We have to cover
it.’” (8/3/2003)
… Kucinich – “the
former wunderkind Cleveland mayor who was sent
out to pasture in the late 1970s” – goes with
Seabiscuit comparison while rallying liberal
buddies in CA. Headline from yesterday’s
Los Angeles Times: “He’s champing at the
bit…Eager to stand out, presidential hopeful
Dennis Kucinich takes the ‘Seabiscuit’ hook by
the reins” The Times’ Reed Johnson writes
about Kucinich’s weekend on the Left Coast.
Excerpt: “Take a dark-horse Democratic
presidential candidate (in this case, Ohio
Rep. Dennis Kucinich), ask him to speak at a
Hollywood function (technically, Sherman
Oaks), invite some of The Industry's most
active and outspoken liberals, and what do you
get? Why, ‘Seabiscuit’ references, of course.
Not that anyone was openly laying bets on
Kucinich's long-shot run for the Oval
Office at the Saturday afternoon party hosted
by actors James Cromwell, his wife, Julie
Cobb, and their friend Hector Elizondo at the
Cobb-Cromwells' elegantly attired Valley home.
And Kucinich isn't really a horse, of
course, of course. He's the former
wunderkind Cleveland mayor who was sent out to
pasture in the late 1970s, roamed wild and
free during a lengthy political exile, then
rose to his feet again on Capitol Hill in the
mid-'90s. Lately, he's been trying to
convince voters that he's the only bona fide
Democratic progressive with the guts to take
on the corporate fat cats, implement universal
health care and nuclear disarmament, and
confront George W. Bush on what Kucinich sees
as the president's maladroit Middle East
policy. But with the 2004 presidential
campaign well under way, Kucinich, 56,
and the other eight declared Democratic
hopefuls have begun courting celebrity
support. And with the handy symbol of ‘Seabiscuit,’
this summer's big hit about an undersized
equine with a bum leg who confounded the
handicappers and rallied a Depression-racked
nation, Kucinich's campaign staff
has been playing up the parallels between man
and mythic beast. His local supporters
were likewise rarin' to make hay with the
analogy…Asked what he thought separated
Kucinich from the other Democratic aspirants,
Cromwell instantly replied that, first of all,
Kucinich was a vegan. That may sound
trivial, he said, but it shows that the
candidate understands the inter-connectedness
between humans and the planet's other
occupants…A sudden gust of noise near the
front door heralded the candidate's arrival,
and a few seconds later Kucinich
strolled into the room, smiling as he shook
hands with anyone in range. Physically slight
though he is, Kucinich has a longshoreman's
grip…Mercifully, on this hot summer
afternoon, he quickly shed his dark suit
jacket. But his rhetoric stayed warm as the
conversation turned to California's miserable
economic state. Kucinich laid the blame not
at the feet of his Democratic colleague Gov.
Gray Davis, who may be recalled out of his
job in a few months, but at the collapse of
key industries like aerospace, spiraling
insurance costs, lack of investment in
infrastructure and ‘catastrophic’ energy
deregulation policies — problems that,
Kucinich said, he'd address as president with
a ‘WPA-type’ public rebuilding program and
other reforms. ‘Because California presents a
special case, there needs to be a special
effort,’ he added.”(8/5/2003)
… Kucinich forces
Dean to concede position change on Social
Security retirement age – and then takes on
both Dean and Gephardt on trade. Headline
from yesterday’s Des Moines Register: “Kucinich
takes aim at Dean” Excerpt from coverage
by the Register’s Lynn Okamoto: “The
presidential campaign for former Vermont Gov.
Howard Dean on Wednesday acknowledged that
Dean has changed his position on whether to
raise the age at which retirees qualify for
full benefits under Social Security.
‘Governor Dean in 1995 was open to the
idea of raising the retirement age to balance
the budget,’ said Sarah Leonard, a spokeswoman
for the Dean campaign. ‘He then learned
from Bill Clinton that it was not necessary to
do so. Now, in this campaign, Governor Dean
has never proposed raising the retirement age
and has no plans to do so.’ The statement
came in reaction to criticism launched
Wednesday by Ohio Congressman Dennis
Kucinich. According to Kucinich,
Dean said on ‘Meet the Press’ that he
would consider moving the retirement age to 68
or 70. He later denied it. ‘We must find
out what his real position is on Social
Security,’ said Kucinich, speaking at a
Des Moines union hall. Kucinich's economic
plan calls for moving the retirement age from
67 back to 65…Kucinich also criticized
Dean and U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri
for their positions on trade. America has
lost 2.4 million manufacturing jobs in the
past two years, but none of the other
candidates would cancel the North American
Free Trade Agreement and the United States'
membership in the World Trade Organization as
Kucinich would. ‘Our trade laws have
permitted and even encouraged a race to the
bottom,’ Kucinich said. Bill Burton, a
spokesman for the Gephardt campaign,
confirmed that Gephardt was the key
negotiator for the World Trade Organization.
‘He thought it would be a powerful force in
raising labor standards throughout the world,’
Burton said.” (8/8/2003)
… “Kucinich
faults Dean for not being progressive enough”
– Headline from Friday’s The Union Leader.
Excerpt from report by AP’s Nedra Pickler: “Democrat
Dennis Kucinich is challenging the positions
of his presidential rivals, beginning with the
candidate he considers the front-runner —
Howard Dean.
The Ohio congressman said Thursday that
Dean has been labeled a liberal, a
perception he dismisses. Both Dean and
Kucinich entered the race as underdogs and
have been outspoken opponents of the U.S.-led
war with Iraq, but while Kucinich remains a
long shot in the field of nine, Dean has
become a leading contender. ‘His economics
are anything but progressive,’ Kucinich
said of Dean in a telephone interview.
‘So the question is: What constituency will he
be representing in the White House?’ Dean’s
insurgency has made him the object of
increasing criticism. Moderate Joe
Lieberman, a senator from Connecticut,
said Monday that Dean’s opposition to
the war and his call to repeal President
Bush’s tax cuts are ‘a ticket to nowhere.’
Dean spokeswoman Tricia Enright said if
Lieberman is attacking Dean from the right and
Kucinich from the left, ‘You know what that
means — the American people think he’s just
right.’ Kucinich took his first
shot at Dean in Tuesday night’s
presidential forum hosted by the AFL-CIO.
Kucinich said the age to receive full
Social Security benefits should return to 65,
but pointed out that Dean has suggested
raising the age to 70 or 68 in the past to
help balance the budget. Dean says he
no longer thinks an increase is necessary. He
still wants to work toward a balanced budget,
but says it can be done without raising the
age or cutting defense spending if the economy
improves. But Kucinich said if Dean wants
to balance the budget without reducing the
Pentagon’s funding, he must take money from
social programs. ‘If someone wants to be a
fiscal conservative, a good place to start is
the Pentagon budget and he’s already taken it
off the table,’ Kucinich said. ‘How in the
world can you be for peace when you won’t
touch a Pentagon budget that needs war to
expand, that needs war in order to justify
itself?’”
(8/10/2003)
… So what? After
coverage of Oklahoma Dem forum last night –
with Kucinich and Moseley Braun getting better
play than Dean and Gephardt – it’s unlikely
the top tier contenders will return again
soon, or at least until writers figure out
who’s newsworthy. Who cares? Wannabes
at Oklahoma State – which doesn’t do any
better on debate sponsorship than playing
football. Headline from this morning’s
Washington Post – “Democrats Stump on GOP
Turf…In Oklahoma, Candidates Take Aim at
Bush from Different Angles” Excerpts from
report filed by AP’s Ron Jenkins in
Stillwater: “Democratic presidential hopefuls
came Tuesday to a state virtually ignored in
past races, bringing with them their criticism
of the Bush administration. Six of the nine
candidates spoke at Oklahoma State University
on health care, the economy and how they would
have handled the aftermath of the 9-11
attacks. ‘I say this is the time for the
United States to admit it made a mistake in
attacking Iraq,’ said Ohio Rep. Dennis
Kucinich, who says Bush has eroded
relationships with the United Nations and the
world community. Former Illinois Sen. Carol
Moseley Braun said Bush's approach has
‘frittered away all the good will we had’ and
said she wants U.S. troops out of Iraq. But
‘we have a moral obligation to at least put
that country back in shape,’ she said. ‘We
can't just leave, having blown them up.’ Asked
about gay marriages, Moseley Braun
recalled an aunt in an interracial marriage
decades ago and brought applause when she
said, ‘I don't see any difference between
interracial marriages and same sex marriages.’
Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman drew a mix
of boos and applause when he said he opposed
same-sex marriages. ‘I am the one Democrat
who can take Bush on where he's supposed to be
strong - security and mainstream values,’ said
Lieberman, and that made him the best
candidate to take on the ‘right-wing agenda’
that he called Bush's weakness. Candidates
challenged Bush's handling of the economy,
citing recently announced job cuts at a
Wrangler plant in Seminole. Vermont Gov.
Howard Dean described Bush's tax cuts as
perks for his wealthy corporate friends.
‘I wouldn't have cut taxes, period,’ Dean
said. ‘Most people would gladly pay the same
taxes they paid when Bill Clinton was
president if only they could have the same
economy ... when Bill Clinton was president.’
Dean favored independent pension plans
that travel with workers who change jobs,
saying corporations can no longer be trusted
to run their own pensions. Missouri Rep. Dick
Gephardt and North Carolina Sen. John
Edwards also were scheduled to speak at
the town hall-style event. About 4,000
people requested tickets for the forum.
Its start was delayed because the line of
people stretched down the street. Oklahoma
has not voted for a Democrat for president
since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. It has been
ignored by primary presidential candidates in
recent elections, prompting the Legislature to
move the 2004 election to Feb. 3, one week
after the New Hampshire primary, the nation's
first. It is one of seven states planning
primaries or caucuses Feb. 3. The others are
Arizona, Delaware, Missouri, South Carolina,
New Mexico and North Dakota…Florida Sen. Bob
Graham and Massachusetts Sen. John
Kerry were not taking part in the forum,
citing scheduling conflicts. The Rev. Al
Sharpton of New York was scheduled to
appear but canceled because of a last-minute
conflict.” (8/13/2003)
… NAFTA opposition,
Patriot Act criticism highlight Kucinich’s
campaign headquarters opening in New
Hampshire. Excerpt from yesterday’s The
Union Leader – datelined Manchester – by AP’s
Anne Saunders: “Democratic presidential
hopeful Dennis Kucinich opened his New
Hampshire campaign headquarters Monday with
promises he'd be a more frequent visitor to
the state. ‘He's just getting started,’
said supporter Ike Langendorfer, a Plymouth
resident who lived in Cleveland when
Kucinich was mayor there. ‘It'll pick up.
He's got a message that's different. He's got
the right message,’ he said. The Ohio
congressman spoke to his supporters Monday.
Rather than kissing babies, he found himself
on the receiving end of a baby's kiss as his
mother, Kelly Barham, came to offer her
support. Kucinich supporters said they are
drawn to their candidate's liberal,
progressive message because it goes beyond
that of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
Kucinich said he wants to cut Pentagon
spending by $60 billion to free up money for
education, health care and housing. He also
pledged to repeal the North American Free
Trade Agreement. ‘Our American way of life
is being undermined by these trade
agreements,’ he said, accusing
corporations of pursuing the lowest wages in
the name of free trade. He also spoke out
against the Patriot Act, saying President Bush
is using fear as an excuse to roll back
long-standing civil rights. ‘We're fearful
based on lies we've been told by the
administration,’ he said. ‘Meanwhile the real
security issues have been ignored.’ The
Patriot Act, which passed with bipartisan
support six weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001
attacks, has been called ‘an essential tool in
the U.S. war on terror’ by the Bush
administration. Kucinich disagrees, saying
the U.S must work with the world community.
‘The safety of this country is not to be
found in the Patriot Act, in homeland
security. It's not to be found in missiles and
nuclear weapons, but the safety of this
country is found in ... an American
willingness to work for peace in the world.’”(8/13/2003)
… In Iowa –
where pro-trade policies are pushed by farmers
and commodity groups – Edwards and Gephardt
brag about leading the fight against trade.
Headline from this morning’s The Union
Leader: “Democrats court key labor vote”
Excerpts of coverage from Iowa Federation of
Labor convention in Waterloo by AP’s
Mike Glover: “Six Democratic
presidential candidates sketched out
differences on health care and trade Wednesday
as they competed for the backing of organized
labor, which is key to securing the party's
nomination. North Carolina Sen. John
Edwards and Missouri Rep. Richard
Gephardt bragged that they've led the
fight against trade deals, saying the deals
resulted in American jobs being shipped
overseas and declining wages. The two men
criticized their rivals who have supported
trade pacts in the past. ‘Most of them
were for those treaties when they were before
Congress,’ said Gephardt, wagging his
finger. Added Edwards: ‘There are a lot
of Democrats have never seen a trade agreement
they didn't like.’ Trade is a key issue for
organized labor because an effort to expand
the North American Free Trade Agreement is
pending before Congress. Massachusetts Sen.
John Kerry conceded that he had voted for
trade agreements during the Clinton
administration, but argued that he now
opposes expansion of those agreements. ‘During
the Clinton years I voted for trade, but we
have seen a sea change over those years,’
Kerry said. Florida Sen. Bob Graham
said he would push for protections in any
trade agreements negotiated with other
countries. ‘If we have a level playing field,
we can win,’ he said. Kerry, Graham and
Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman all voted in
favor of the original NAFTA, but Kerry and
Graham argued that it is now time for
additional protections. Former Vermont
Gov. Howard Dean said he supported
NAFTA because it was good for his state.
Dean now wants labor and environmental
standards added to it. Ohio Rep. Dennis
Kucinich said he would pull out of the World
Trade Organization and cancel NAFTA altogether.
‘Anyone who talks about changing it doesn't
know what he's talking about,’ he said.
Kerry and Graham argued that Gephardt's $200
billion-plus plan to expand the nation's
health care system was too expensive,
although all of the candidates have their own
plans to fix the system.” (8/14/2003)
… Without Snow White,
seven Dem dwarfs show up at Drake University
to discuss their health care plans (for
probably the 4,850th time) and attack the
president (for probably the 629,382nd time).
Headline from this morning’s Union Leader:
“Democratic rivals joust on health care”
Coverage – an excerpt datelined Des
Moines – by AP’s Mike Glover: “Seven
Democratic presidential nominees used an Iowa
political forum Thursday to offer deeply
personal pitches for revamping the nation's
health system and to bash President Bush and
large pharmaceutical companies. Most of
the major Democratic candidates have offered
plans to expand the nation's health care
system, and would finance their efforts by
repealing various portions of the tax cut the
president pushed through Congress.
‘America has a choice, it can have tax cuts
for the wealthiest Americans or health care
for all Americans,” Massachusetts Sen. John
Kerry told the gathering of health care
advocates. Kerry used his recent bout
with prostate cancer and the expensive
treatment he got for the disease as an example
of why the system needs to be changed. ‘We
must stop being the only industrial nation in
the world that does not understand that health
care is not a privilege, it is a right,’
he said. Florida Sen. Bob Graham has
health issues of his own, undergoing major
heart surgery before he entered the race.
‘Clearly one of the challenges facing America
is making health care affordable and
accessible to all,’ Graham said. ‘That
is a goal to which we all should be
committed.’ Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt
pointed to his son's bout with cancer, and
called health care a ‘moral issue.’…’It is
immoral in this country to have people not
have health care,’ Gephardt shouted.
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a doctor,
said he wanted the whole country to have
health care like Vermont, which has health
coverage for all youngsters and subsidized
care for the working poor. ‘It can pass,’
Dean said. ‘I'm tired of having
Democrats tilt at windmills.’ Dean later
had one of his more colorful days on the
campaign trail, as 200 people packed a local
blues club to watch him play harmonica and
guitar. Dean accompanied two other performers
on two songs, including one written
specifically for his campaign. He quietly
sang along with lyrics like ‘Dean for
America’ and ‘losing my mind from being
left behind.’ Former Illinois Sen. Carol
Moseley Braun and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich
offered their pitch for a single-payer,
government-run health care system, where
health coverage isn't tied to the
workplace…North Carolina Sen. John Edwards
touted his $53 billion plan to offer tax
credits to help pay for insurance costs and
argued that Bush's health care plans are
likely dictated by political adviser Karl
Rove…Gephardt also complained that giant
pharmaceutical companies influence Bush's
health care plans. ‘They put $70 million
into the campaigns only of Republicans,’
Gephardt said. ‘It's time to kick the
moneychangers out of the temples of
government.’” (8/15/2003)
… Blame Bush – Dem
hopefuls suggest that the president pulled the
plug on the northeastern United States.
With wannabes wandering IA, Associated Press’
caucus watcher Mike Glover decided to
highlight their reaction to the blackout.
Want to guess who they criticized? Excerpt
– datelined Cedar Rapids – from Glover
coverage: “The Democratic presidential
contenders blamed President Bush Friday for
the massive blackout in the northeastern
United States, saying the White House's
refusal to invest in the nation's
infrastructure caused the problem. ‘It
underscores a blackout in this administration
on energy policies,’ Massachusetts Sen. John
Kerry said. ‘They have ignored the
investment needs of our infrastructure in
favor of a tax cut for the wealthy.’
Northeastern cities from New York City across
to Toledo, Ohio, were gripped by a massive
blackout Thursday afternoon that left
officials scrambling to restore power and
searching for causes of the failure. While
no one has yet pinpointed a cause, Democrats
were quick to bash Bush. Missouri Rep.
Richard Gephardt argued that the
blackouts can be linked to flaws in Bush and
the Republican party's energy policy. ‘These
events illustrate how shortsighted the Bush
administration and Republican-controlled
Congress were in 2001 when they rejected
modernization of our nation's power grid,’
Gephardt said. Much of the criticism came
during a labor forum featuring six of the
Democratic presidential candidates. One of
the candidates, the Rev. Al Sharpton, was
forced to cancel because of jumbled air
schedules after the blackout. Florida Sen.
Bob Graham said Bush called for new
investment in electrical transmission systems
but Republicans blocked a Democratic effort to
do just that. ‘Just two years ago, he and his
allies in Congress blocked a Democratic
proposal to invest $350 million in upgrading
America's electrical grid system,’ Graham
said. ‘The blackout is further evidence that
America needs to invest in its
infrastructure.’ North Carolina Sen. John
Edwards chose not to immediately attack Bush.
‘I think we need to find out what
happened,’ Edwards said. Former Vermont
Gov. Howard Dean said the Bush
administration, through the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, tried to merge the New
England's electrical grid with New York's when
he still governor. ‘I raised hell and told
them they better get a lot of lawyers,’ he
said in a telephone interview. ‘The president
always sees bigger as being better and that's
not true. What we really need to do is let
local people take care of things. What we need
is good, strong regional grids. We do not need
huge mega-grids.’ Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich
said he has fought the big utilities since he
was the mayor of Cleveland and resisted
efforts to sell of the city's utilities. ‘I
stood to the Enrons of that day, and I'll
stand up to the Enrons of this day,’ Kucinich
said. Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman,
speaking earlier at the state fair, said the
blackouts, along with the latest virus attacks
on the Internet, have Americans feeling less
secure even though neither event has been
linked to terrorism. ‘Electricity is too
important to the quality of life to all of the
American people to allow it to become a gap in
homeland security,’ Lieberman said.”
(8/17/2003)
…
“Free trade: Running from reality won’t help”
– headline on editorial in Friday’s The Union
Leader. Editorial excerpt: “Free trade is
one of the reasons the American economy
experienced such notable growth during the
1990s. The down side is that it has cost
some American jobs, and Democrats running
for President are exploiting that to win
votes, even though NAFTA was President
Clinton’s baby. At a candidate’s forum in
Iowa on Wednesday, Dick Gephardt, John
Edwards, John Kerry, Howard Dean, Bob Graham
and Dennis Kucinich all bashed NAFTA to some
extent. Gephardt and Kucinich oppose free
trade. Dean said he would support
changes to NAFTA to make foreign workers abide
by the same rules as American workers.
Edwards said he would have voted against
the trade pact had he been in office. Kerry
and Graham, who voted for NAFTA, said they now
think it needs to provide more job
protections. Adam Smith disagrees with all
of them. He wrote of trade, ‘It is the maxim
of every prudent master of a family, never to
attempt to make at home what it will cost him
more to make than to buy…What is prudence in
the conduct of every private family, can
scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom. If
a foreign country can supply us with a
commodity cheaper than we ourselves can make
it, better buy it of them with some part of
the produce of our own industry, employed in a
way in which we have some advantage.’ That
is no less true today than it was in 1776,
when The Wealth of Nations was published.
Protectionism may temporarily save some jobs
in some industries, but in the long run it is
costlier than the alternative. Is Clinton the
only Democrat who still grasps this?”
(8/17/2003)
… Three for the road –
or, in this case, union picnic: Kucinich, “Lou
Grant” and Edwards, but Edwards skips before
Kucinich and Ed Asner arrived. Report – an
excerpt – from coverage in yesterday’s
Quad-City Times by Linda Cook: “Although
two Democratic presidential candidates
appeared Sunday afternoon, a veteran actor and
political activist shared their spotlight.
Edward Asner, who is most recognized for his
portrayal of journalist Lou Grant on the ‘Mary
Tyler Moore Show’ and the spin-off series ‘Lou
Grant,’ spoke Sunday to about 200 people. The
third annual Democrats with Labor Picnic and
Folkfest was held outdoors at the Carpenters
Local Union No. 4 on West Kimberly Road in
Davenport. Asner urged those attending to
become politically active — ‘Look at America,
for God’s sake,’ he said after Kucinich’s
address. ‘If we all didn’t do something, we’ll
go farther down the sewer than we already
have.’ Asner said that Americans are losing
their freedoms…Many of those attending
came up to shake Asner’s hand and to have
their photos taken with him. Lots of cameras
were trained on the candidates, too, of
course. U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio,
whom Asner endorsed, drew a standing ovation
with his energetic support for labor.
Asner and Kucinich earlier attended a
River Bandits game, where Kucinich
threw out the first pitch. ‘There are certain
benefits to running for president,’ he said.
Kucinich emphasized jobs throughout his
speech…’When I’m elected president, NAFTA
is history,’ he said. Kucinich
discussed his plan for a new WPA, or Works
Progress Administration, program ‘to put
America back to work.’ He added that he
plans to announce a new program to expand
NASA. ‘America must be the country that
keeps the new technologies moving forward,’ he
said. U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.,
also was on hand earlier in the day. He talked
about his plan to create jobs and help working
Americans. ‘Every time President Bush steps
up to announce another economic plan, what
happens? We lose jobs,’ Edwards said.
‘Every time the president says that a recovery
is just around the corner, millions of
Americans start collecting unemployment checks
instead of paychecks.’ Edwards said
he plans to help workers who have been hit
hard by the Bush economy, companies moving
jobs overseas and foreign trade. Edwards
proposes giving a 10 percent tax cut to
corporations that produce goods in the United
States.”(8/19/2003)
…
For Kucinich, will the current presidential
adventure be a “Field of Dreams” or his “field
of hallucinations?”
Excerpt – datelined
Davenport
-- from report in the Lorain (Ohio) Morning
Journal: “U.S. Rep. Dennis
Kucinich
continued making a pitch for his field of
political dreams throughout southeastern Iowa
yesterday in his bid to capture the Democratic
nomination for president of the United States
in the 2004 election.
Or will it wind up his field of
hallucinations?
In the late 1980s movie, ‘Field Of Dreams,’ an
Iowa farmer heard a voice: ‘If you build it,
they will come,’ referring to constructing a
baseball diamond in a cornfield. If
Kucinich builds a strong enough case to win
the nomination over favorite Howard Dean,
Vermont governor, will the Democrats, liberals
and those looking for as change vote for him?
‘We're getting a good response here,’
Kucinich said yesterday on a break from
the first of a three-day campaign stop in
Iowa. ‘The people out here seem to like me,
and they're listening. I plan to bring out all
the issues that need to be talked about and
the need for a change in this country's
leadership.’ By tradition, the Iowa caucuses
that kickoff in January 2004 are the beginning
of the presidential campaign races, and often
are crucial for gauging Democratic and
presidential favorites. In fact, Scott County,
where Kucinich spent most of his time
making public appearances yesterday, made the
difference for Democratic presidential
candidate Al Gore to carry the state in the
2000 election…Kucinich is the longshot
candidate with a meager war chest (about $1
million, according to members of his staff),
and on late-night talk shows, he has sometimes
replaced the city he hails from as the butt of
jokes. Last week on ‘The Late Show with
David Letterman,’ Letterman had a makeshift
book of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’ On
the cover was a photo of Kucinich's face
over one of the dwarfs. Letterman quipped,
‘He's the dopey looking one -- I wouldn't vote
for him.’”(8/20/2003)
… Are Kucinich and
Willie Nelson serious about this? Nelson
concerts postponed to capitalize on Dennis’
“momentum” toward the Dem nomination. From
report on TheIowaChannel.com (KCCI-TV, Des
Moines): “Two Willie Nelson concerts to
support Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis
Kucinich have been postponed. The concerts
for the Ohio congressman were Sept. 1 in Des
Moines and Sept. 6 in Cleveland. According to
a statement from Kucinich's campaign, both
concerts will be rescheduled for later in the
fall, so he can make better use of the
momentum heading into the primary season.
People who already bought tickets will get
refunds.”(8/24/2003)
… “Kucinich says war
hurt U. S. credibility” – headline from
yesterday’s The Union Leader. Excerpt from
coverage – datelined Keene – by UL
correspondent Stephen Seitz: “Support for
Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich’s
Presidential campaign may be small at this
point, but it’s not invisible. About 75
Kucinich supporters, many of them from
Massachusetts and Vermont, filled the Pub
Restaurant in Keene yesterday during a
campaign stop…Kucinich attacked Bush
administration policies in Iraq, noting that
he voted against the war and does not believe
the administration planned adequately to
secure the peace. He said the war in Iraq
undermined U.S. credibility in the Middle
East. ‘You can’t run a war in Iraq and then
tell the Israelis and Palestinians to make
peace,’ Kucinich said. ‘I want the U.S.
out and the U.N. in. The administration has
too many conflicting interests in Iraq. Don’t
forget that this administration comes from oil
companies, so there are interests in oil
contracts. Halliburton (the corporation once
headed by Vice President Cheney) had no-bid
contracts in place before the war was even
declared. The U.N. should take over in Iraq,
and should take over quickly, and that
includes administering the oil for the Iraqi
people.’ Kucinich also took the opportunity
to promote a single-payer health-care plan and
also take a swipe at Democratic front-runner
Howard Dean, a physician and former
governor of Vermont. ‘We have enough for a
health-care system now,’ said the congressman.
‘There’s about $1.4 trillion that goes into a
pot. My plan would cost $1.4 trillion. It’s a
question of how the money is allocated. Right
now, the pharmaceutical companies spend it on
profits, advertising, stock options, executive
salaries and lobbyists. With universal
health care, all you’d need is a card.’
As for Dean, Kucinich said, ‘If you’re
looking for change, he’s not your guy. When
you’ve got a doctor who’s not in favor of
universal health care, then it’s time to get a
second opinion.’”(8/24/2003)
… The
Kucinich campaign has postponed the concerts –
but that hasn’t stopped them from teaming up
to push rural agenda in Iowa. Excerpt from
Dubuque coverage in yesterday’s New
Hampshire Sunday Times by IA AP staffer Amy
Lorentzen: “Country singer Willie Nelson
hooked up with Rep. Dennis Kucinich on
Saturday to help the Ohio congressman pitch
his plan to help family farmers.
Kucinich, who is facing eight others in
the race for the Democratic presidential
nomination, said he wants to end
agricultural monopolies, including banning
meatpacker ownership of livestock, and require
country-of-origin labeling on agricultural
products to help farmers compete in a market
that he said continues to crush them. ‘A
president, if he is going to protect the
family farmers, is going to need to break up
some of these agricultural monopolies that
make is impossible for family farmers to
survive,’ Kucinich said at a news
conference before a rally in the eastern Iowa
city of Dubuque. Nelson, founding
performer and president of Farm Aid, the
annual concert that raises money for family
farmers, praised Kucinich's commitment
to rural America. ‘Finally, we have a guy who
is standing up for the small family farmer,’
Nelson said at the rally. ‘Agriculture, our
raw materials, are what we need to take care
of. There's a way to do that, a way to make
it strong again, and Dennis knows the way to
do that.’ Nelson plans to put on a concert
for Kucinich in Iowa, where precinct
caucuses launch the presidential nominating
season. That concert was postponed from
September until later in the fall. Another
concert is scheduled for Cleveland.”(8/25/2003)
… Despite Bob
Novak’s contention that Gephardt has CWA
endorsement locked up, three wannabes – Kerry,
Kucinich plus Gephardt – show up for CWA forum
with Dean and Lieberman still to go.
Headline from yesterday’s Chicago Sun-Times: “Democratic
hopefuls blast Bush over Iraq” Coverage –
an excerpt – by the Sun-Times’ Curtis
Lawrence: “Three of the nine Democratic
presidential candidates came to Chicago on
Monday serenading union activists with
old-time labor songs and pointing to what they
call the sour notes of the Bush
administration, especially when it comes to
defense and labor policies. Rep. Richard
Gephardt (D-Mo.) was the first to
address the Communication Workers of America,
which brought 2,800 delegates, members and
supporters to Navy Pier for a convention this
week. Like Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio)
and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who also
addressed the convention, Gephardt is trying
to win the coveted endorsement of the AFL-CIO
and its unions. ‘I think the president
needs to get to the UN, to get to NATO and to
get us help,’ Gephardt said, hammering
at Bush's Iraq strategy. ‘We have 150,000
troops there. We're stretched thin. If we had
a military problem somewhere in the world
today, we have no one to send there.’
Saying he presented the ‘sharpest contrast’ to
Bush, Kucinich reminded voters that he was one
of the few voices against the war in Iraq.
He also attacked the president and his aides
for deliberately overstating the threat posed
by the country. ‘This administration lied
to the American people, and we must challenge
them,’ Kucinich said. After his speech,
Kucinich told reporters that ‘only someone
who's ready to clearly distinguish themselves
from the president on what would be the basis
for war is going to be able to be successful.’
But Kucinich also hit hard on bread and
butter labor issues. He blasted labor
policies, including the North American Free
Trade Agreement, that he said were taking jobs
out of the country. He also criticized Bush
policies for undermining the right to
organize. ‘They want to take us back to
the day of 'Sixteen Tons,'’ Kucinich said,
humoring the crowd with a scratchy verse from
the rallying standard of American miners.
Kerry didn't sing, but he wooed the crowd with
one-liners, calling Bush's jobs record the
worst since Depression-era President Herbert
Hoover. He said that people were ‘just plain
tired of being trickled on’ by Bush's economic
policies and said he would scrap Bush's tax
breaks and ‘restore fairness to the work place
in America…Later Kerry sat at a picnic
table on Navy Pier for an informal chat with
about a half dozen veterans, two of whom
served on gun boats with him in the MeKong
Delta. While Sun-Times columnist Robert
Novak has reported that Gephardt has the
communication workers' endorsement pinned
down, Candice Johnson, a union spokeswoman,
said that while Gephardt is a friend of the
union, ‘we have not endorsed anybody yet.’
That will come in the fall, she said.”(8/27/2003)
… Kucinich
adopts a new theme: Rather than constant
criticism of GWB on Iraq and other policies,
the Ohio wannabe pushes railroad improvement
plans. Headline from yesterday’s The Union
Leader: “Kucinich wants investment in
passenger rail service” Excerpt from AP
report from Dover: “Democratic presidential
hopeful Dennis Kucinich, campaigning at an
Amtrak station, called Friday for bringing
public transportation back to the way it was
during the era of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
‘I am determined to bring back passenger
railroads in this country and rebuild the
American rail system’ and alleviate pollution
in our society, the Ohio congressman said.
He spoke of rebuilding infrastructure,
comparing his idea to Roosevelt's ‘New Deal’
program of government-backed construction
programs intended to create jobs during the
Depression. ‘Public transportation is
essential for mobility in our society,’ said
Kucinich, who planned to take a train to
Maine to spread his message. Kucinich has
long advocated that the government should do
all it can to keep Amtrak running. Amtrak's
future is unclear because President Bush
proposed last month that the federal
government should largely withdraw from the
passenger rail business. He also expressed
concern about against privately owned utility
companies and water pollution, saying, ‘If
they don't want to clean up their pollution,
we'll shut them down.’”(8/31/2003)
… “Kucinich wants
military cuts for education” – headline
from Friday’s Union Leader. Excerpt from AP
report datelined Portsmouth: “While
trumpeting his plans for withdrawing troops
from Iraq and swapping defense spending for
education programs, presidential candidate
Dennis Kucinich yesterday caught the attention
of a couple soldiers who had just returned
from Baghdad. Peter Manning, a former
University of New Hampshire student from
Amherst, Mass., and Palmer Phillips, of
Beverly, Mass., listened with interest to the
Ohio Congressman's plan to replace American
troops with soldiers under United Nations
command. While keeping their political
opinions to themselves, the two testified to
the challenges such a move would pose to
leaders and soldiers on the ground…The
meeting was one of several in what Kucinich
said would be a stepped up effort to reach out
to New Hampshire voters, which includes
opening new campaign offices in Portsmouth and
Keene. ‘We're doing this at a time when
many people feel the race is over,’ he told
about a dozen supporters and news reporters at
a gathering in Market Square. ‘I'm telling you
it's only just the beginning.’ Among other
ideas, Kucinich announced a plan to shift
$60 billion from the military's budget to fund
a universal pre-kindergarten program for
children ages 3 to 5. On the chopping
block, he said, would be Pentagon programs for
missile defense, bunker-busting nuclear
weapons and other advanced weapons systems.
Kucinich said he would work to make the United
States party to several international
agreements rejected by the current
administration, including the Kyoto Protocol
on climate change, the treaty to ban land
mines and the International Court of Justice.”(8/31/2003)
Kucinich
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