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Jan
28
Gail Collins wrote this post today on the New York Times‘ blog, Campaign Stops. It’s about fringe candidates and, of course, you can’t write about fringe candidates without mentioning Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, former twice-ran Democratic presidential primary candidate.
As the sun sinks on Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter and the rest of the gang, we might want to pause for a minute and ask what made them run and what, if anything, they brought to the party.
…
There’s a second kind of candidate who says he’s in the campaign to get in touch with the electorate. Dennis Kucinich is in this league, and Ron Paul. The argument here is that (a) I, the underdog candidate have a compelling message that the voters would rally around once they heard it (b) You, the swinelike media, have deliberately ignored my compelling message, depriving the voters of the chance to judge me fairly (c) Therefore I must run for president so I can get on the nationally televised debates and state my case.
This theory never actually works out, but you can see the attractiveness of it, particularly to people who deeply distrust the mainstream media. I don’t think, in an age of Internet fundraising, that anybody should be taken seriously as a candidate unless he/she has managed to raise enough money to run a modest but real campaign by the time Iowa has its caucus. Ron Paul did that and he’ll probably be with us until the bitter end. However, Kucinich managed to insert himself into 37 nationally televised debates, in the guise of a serious presidential candidate, without any result whatsoever. Then he went to court to try to force MSNBC to let him onto another debate in Nevada. Really, there’s a limit.
There is a limit, and Dennis is about to find out if his 10th congressional district constituents have reached theirs while he was off finding his.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:39 am January 28th, 2008 in Campaigning, Elections, Government, Media, Politics, WH2008
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8 Responses to “Kucinich post-mortem from NYT blog, Campaign Stops”
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[...] Kucinich post-mortem from NYT blog, Campaign Stops | Writes Like She Talks [...]
He is running scared…
You know, I tend to agree but I’m not close enough to really know for sure.
[...] seriously as a candidate unless he/she has managed to raise enough money to r… source: Kucinich post-mortem from NYT blog, Campaign Stops, Writes Like She [...]
Despite the NYT’s snotty tone, there is a bit of a Catch22 facing folks like Kucinich, his appeal isn’t to people with money, except despite that fact, Paul’s Libertarianism is ALL about money and keeping it. The Kucinichs of politics raise from small donors and without serious media attention don’t have reach to raise more to extend that reach to raise more…
I’ve played the low buck campaign with a lot more respectful press than Dennis got and even then it’s real tough. The worst thing said about me was that I was the most conservative of 4 Democratic candidates – it was stupid even if it was the state’s biggest paper (oh, that was coupled with “weak on policy”). Back on topic, Dennis himself made things more difficult, but for the NYT to go off on “blame the MSM” is about rudely inaccurate, because it was true. While I haven’t, other people than Dennis have seen unexplained things in the sky, some well respected people; and some people are short and have nice looking wives – some people are married to a person who got in real public messes over being married and… has that been a real campaign topic?
For the MSM to assert in snotty tones that they’ve played straight with Kucinich is laughable on its face. Dennis was not going to win, not from any point, not with favorable media, it wasn’t going to happen. But he did keep dragging the debate left and now we have to count on Edwards who has a lot less record in that respect.
Dennis was wrong on the BOR, specifically #2, and waving a copy of the Constitution and being that wrong on #2 wears on somebody like me, so he wasn’t going to get my vote. Edwards is weak on it, but not stupidly or fanatically so I was headed there anyhow.
I’ve nicely hijacked this, thanks Jill,
Chuck
While Dennis never had a chance as a presidential candidate, he did post some of the most interesting and detailed plans for dealing with the issues on his website (If anyone bothered to read them). IMHO, he did represent his constituency by bringing national attention to the problems faced by working people in Ohio and other former manufacturing centers. The people Dennis represented in this presidential primary are people like my parents.
My dad earned a decent living working in the steel mill and my mom worked part-time in the hospital dietary department. They bought a house in an urban neighborhood that was safe for their kids, sent them to an urban school that gave them a good education, and helped them the best they could by giving them room and board while they worked for their tuition and books and commuted from home to local colleges.
Today, the job my dad had doesn’t exist in the United States, and real wages for working people in this country are steadily declining. The neighborhood where I grew up isn’t safe anymore, and the schools I went to aren’t preparing most of the kids for a job that will provide them and their families with a decent living when they grow up.
Dennis represents people like my son who didn’t go to college, but goes to work everyday doing one of those jobs that President Bush claims Americans won’t do. At the wage he makes, it would take him 30 hours of working to pay for one of John Edward’s haircuts.
I know they made fun of Dennis, and he didn’t have a chance of winning, but he got in a few good points during those debates and he got national attention. As far as representing his district, I often watched him speak from the house floor (on C-span) during the time he wasn’t running for president. I just wonder who from his district was tuned in to hear what he had to say. Certainly his comments never appeared on national television until he ran for president.
Dennis had hard working parents like mine, grew up in a neighborhood like mine, and still lives there. I don’t think he has lost touch with the people he represents or their interests.
Chuck – you did a lovely job hijacking – liked the detour.
And some of what you say is true – even NEOhioans would begrudge you some of it. But dislike or iffy feeling about Kucinich run deep and wide – you either love him or not, I think. I actually don’t think much about him though if I had to, I don’t know – for all his energy etc., I don’t see him as a team player at all – and I just don’t know how you lead a country if you can’t be part of a team or send the message that you are.
I could also be wrong since I’ve never worked for him – it’s just a sense I get.
CeeJay – thank you, very much, for the reflections. There IS a realness and an authenticity about Dennis – no question. Having just watched the GOP candidates debate, their lack of authenticity is appalling – I cannot understand why Americans would desire that – though Paul and Huckabee have it a bit.
I do not like Cimperman – I’ve never met him formally though I’ve seen him at least twice meeting with people in coffee shops downtown. I don’t like the stunts he’s pulled or the laissez-faire in some of his attitude and the connections people talk about him having are of concern.
But who am I to say – about him or Kucinich? Really?
If his constituents are liking what he does for them, there’s little more to say. Why I then go and say it, well – that’s my mistake and I should stop I suppose. Lesson learned.
Maybe so few of us are willing to look crazy for what we believe in anymore that we don’t recognize it when passion gets the upperhand – we shouldn’t be so quick to laugh at it.