05/18/03

This I-think-I'll-run-for-president idea isn't going all that well for Dennis Kucinich.

Out in the heartland, Kucinich's candidacy has hardly captured the imagination of the American public. The polls aren't encouraging and the national press corps' treatment of Kucinich's candidacy hasn't always been kind.

Back home, the congressman seems to be paying a price for his rancorous opposition to the war in Iraq. There's an abundance of anecdotal evidence that Kucinich's anti-war stance has infuriated many in his congressional district. That evidence tends to be supported by a recent poll taken by a prominent Parma Democrat that showed Kucinich's job-approval rating in decline and his disapproval rating in rapid ascent.

Kucinich was a fierce critic of the war, a position born of a sincere belief. He wasn't just posturing.

But now that he's made his point, perhaps it's time for Kucinich to rethink this thing about the presidency.

No newspaper on the planet covers politics, especially presidential politics, with greater intensity than the Washington Post. And while coverage of Kucinich's candidacy hasn't exactly been favorable in the mainstream press, in the Post it's been downright brutal.

Just last week, the Post's esteemed David Broder wrote that Kucinich "came up short on the gravitas scale" in a televised debate among Democratic presidential candidates in South Carolina.

Post columnist Terry Neal wrote of the South Carolina events, "One of the great things about America is that just about anybody can run for president. It's also one of the worst. Kucinich went busily about pounding that last nail into the coffin of his presidential ambitions this weekend, starting his speech on Saturday at the state party convention by singing (badly) 'The Star Spangled Banner'."

And, from the Post's George Will: "Rep. Dennis Kucinich is the answer to a trivia question: Who is the only presidential candidate to have presided over the bankruptcy of a major American city."

That's not quite true. It was default, not bankruptcy. And even if default wasn't all Kucinich's fault, he's still paying a political price for the events of a quarter-century ago.

The polls are no better than the press coverage. The most recent poll in Iowa, taken in late April, had Kucinich's support at 3 percent. A mid-April poll of New Hampshire Democrats had him at 1 percent, as did a Marist College poll of Democrats nationwide taken around the same time.

Kucinich argues that, for a fledgling operation, has campaign gotten "really good" response, and that the crowds he addresses on the campaign trail have been large and enthusiastic. Still, he acknowledges "a lot of things have to happen for this campaign to become viable."

None of this should be misconstrued as meaning Kucinich is now vulnerable in his district - which includes most of Cleveland's West Side and the western and southwestern suburbs.

Yet a favorable-unfavorable job rating of 47 percent to 44 percent in a heavily Democratic city like Parma is nothing to brag about.

And if letters to the editor mean anything, it should be noted that Cleveland-area readers of this newspaper have overwhelmed us with mail critical of the would-be president.

Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chairman Jimmy Dimora remains a huge Kucinich supporter, but acknowledged last week, "I've got to believe the war thing didn't help him."

Three West Side members of Cleveland City Council, who didn't want to be named, said essentially the same thing. Explained one, "I think some people are very angry at him over the war and his switching positions on abortion. One of his biggest boosters told me, 'I can't tell you how hard it is these days to be a Kucinich supporter.' "

Former Brook Park Mayor Tom Coyne is the most prominent possible opponent known to be considering a race against Kucinich next year.

If he runs - and Coyne last week said he is "about 90 percent there" - then look for Coyne to bypass the Democratic Party primary and run as an independent.

"I think I can beat him," said Coyne. "I think I'm Dennis' worst nightmare."

Coyne's a tough political infighter. But he also possesses an inflated view of his political popularity and has already lost three races for Congress.

Cleveland-area pollster Bob Dykes, who has never worked for Kucinich, thinks beating him in the 10th District would pose a formidable challenge.

"I don't want to say his standing has declined," said Dykes. "I think he has raised some questions about himself that if somebody came in and spent $1 million against him, maybe that could make something of a race. But I think his record of service to the district is deep enough that it will take a lot to put him in serious jeopardy."

Other than indicating it doesn't worry him much at all, Kucinich wouldn't discuss a potential challenge from Coyne. But he isn't the least bit apologetic about his opposition to the war in Iraq.

"Throughout my entire career, I've taken stands that at first have not seemed plausible, which turned out to be right," he said.

"On this issue, I told the truth. When others didn't want to talk about what was going on, I was asking where the weapons [of mass destruction] were. By the time the next election rolls around, the questions I have raised will end up being among the most serious in the country.

"I think when the American people find out that Iraq didn't have anything to do with al-Qaida's role in Sept. 11, or anthrax, that they are going to be very upset American sons and daughters were sent there, that lives were lost, and that hundreds of billions of tax dollars have been spent."

Kucinich's list of accomplishments on local issues, which he isn't bashful about reciting, is indeed a long one.

And it's that list that gives him the political cover to oppose the war in a district where support for it was undoubtedly overwhelming.

"My entire career has been about protecting local interests," he said.

"That why the people sent me to Washington. There are seven members of Congress running [for president], and only one member who hasn't missed a vote [Kucinich]. I'm very conscientious about this work here. People understand that I'm from Cleveland and that I don't forget that. It's Cleveland that has helped prepare me to run [for president]. This is the first chance Cleveland has had to send one of its city sons to the White House."

And it may not be Cleveland's last chance.

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