Abstract

Kucinich Fights On

Long after Senator John Kerry has clinched the nomination and all other Democratic contenders have dropped out, [Dennis] Kucinich is soldiering on--not to beat Kerry but to prod him. "It's up to him to take it. Democrats need to demonstrate there is a capacity in our party to attract progressives. We can show there's room in the party." To Kucinich, that means four issues: universal single-payer healthcare, opposition to free-trade agreements, opposition to the Patriot Act and--above everything--getting out of Iraq. Judging by his almost imperceptible showing in previous primaries, Kucinich might seem an odd adviser on strategies for victory--although he notes proudly that he just won four delegates in North Carolina. But Iraq now seems both a bloodier and bleaker prospect than it did back in the snows of Iowa, bolstering Kucinich's point that target voters want to hear a sharper message on the subject from Kerry. In the two months before Oregon's May 18 primary day, Kucinich is spending a month in the state. Oregon was a careful selection for Kucinich's last stand. The state has an active antiwar movement and progressive community and has been a Ralph Nader bastion. The Kerry campaign dismisses Kucinich's effort as irrelevant to the looming Kerry-Bush face-off. But at the end of April, it did announce that Kerry would campaign in Oregon sometime before the primary.