The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal

March 31, 2004

Why Kucinich came

A Register-Guard Editorial

Nelson Rockefeller won the 1964 Republican primary in Oregon because "he cared enough to come." Forty years later, candidates don't care about the Oregon presidential primary - except Dennis Kucinich, who cared enough to come even though John Kerry has all the delegates he needs to wrap up the Democratic presidential nomination. Kucinich's effort suggests that late primaries in states such as Oregon may have a glimmer of relevance after all.

Kucinich knows he won't be his party's nominee, but unlike Kerry's other rivals, the Ohio congressman has not dropped out. Except for loopy Lyndon LaRouche, Kucinich will be the only alternative to Kerry on Oregon's Democratic ballot. Eight hundred people, a good-sized crowd for any political event, showed up to hear Kucinich at Lane Community College on Sunday.

Kucinich is still campaigning on the themes that brought him single-digit results in early primaries: universal health care, withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, suspension of trade agreements and repeal of the Patriot Act. But as the field has thinned, Kucinich's numbers have improved. He won 27 percent of caucus votes in Alaska on March 20, and earlier won nearly a third of caucus-goers' support in Hawaii.

(Full Story)