Friday, April 02, 2004

March 30, 2004

Kucinich's visit revs up local political interest

EDITORIAL

President Dennis Kucinich?

OK, that's about as likely to happen as President Al Sharpton, but the visit by the long-shot Democratic presidential candidate to this area still created an exciting opportunity for locals to engage in the national debate.

Thanks to a late primary and a front-loaded system that lets a small part of the nation's population have a big say in choosing presidential nominees, Oregon gets left out of having a say too often.

A crowd estimated at 250 crowded the Douglas County Library Sunday night to hear Kucinich speak.

Sure, it might seem like we're getting the scraps from the candidates -- Kucinich doesn't have the star power of a Bush or a Kerry, admittedly -- but it's great that his campaign chose to put us on the map.

Part of the thanks goes to a core of dedicated Kucinich supporters in the area, who've held several conscious-raising events and even have a Web site, www.douglascountykucinich.org. They lobbied Kucinich to make a stop here when it was learned he was coming to Oregon.

It's too seldom that a nationally known figure stops off in Douglas County.

Oregon's May 18 presidential primary doesn't have a lot of pull, but it can send a message. Kucinich's entire campaign at this point is about "giving people a voice," as he put it, and trying to shape the Democratic party platform.

(Full Story)

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