Some Ohio voters will have the opportunity to vote for Dennis Kucinich during tomorrow's election, but it won't be for president. Kucinich is one of five people vying for the House seat he currently holds.
His main opponent, Joe Cimperman, is a serious contender for the race in a district where many people objected to Kucinich's second try for the White House. Ciimperman is a former Cleveland City Council member who has raised a half million dollars in his quest for the Congressional seat.
Kucinich has been no slouch in fund-raising himself. The Cleveland Plain Dealer says, "In the past six weeks, Kucinich raised nearly $700,000 in his bid to hold onto his 10th Congressional District seat. That brings his total to $735,000, the most he has amassed in a congressional race, including his initial bid 12 years ago against incumbent Martin Hoke."
Kucinich's big-money givers, who donated a total of $230,000, primarily live outside of Ohio, the newspaper reports. A third of the money came from California, where 120 people donated a total of $75,700. Ohioans contributed nearly $25,000. His other top states for donations were New York, Massachusetts and Oregon.
His supporters include singer Bonnie Raitt, best-selling author and New Age lecturer Marianne Williamson and "Million Dollar Baby" film writer Paul Haggis, along with numerous college professors, artists and retirees.
Cimperman's supporters are almost all Ohioans. The roster includes Cleveland Indians attorney Paul Dolan, downtown real estate developer Richard Jacobs and Crocker Park developer Bob Stark. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 880 gave $5,000.
Cimperman collected $15,000 from people outside Ohio.
The Democrats running against him believe Kucinich is vulnerable because of his national campaigns and because he has passed only two pieces of legislation during his 12 years in Congress.
But Salon.com, writing about the contest notes "Even Kucinich's detractors admire his idealism, but they say he's more interested in grandstanding and self-righteous crusades than passing bills that would ease the economic woes of Cleveland, which has twice been named "poorest city in America." Kucinich voted against expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program, because it didn't cover children of immigrants. (He later voted to override President Bush's veto of the same bill.)"
The Plain Dealer also likes Kucinich, but it gave its endorsement to Cimperman saying:
There's a lot to like, even to admire, about Kucinich. At 61, he has never given a whiff of personal scandal or any sense that he marches to another's drum. Whatever Dennis Kucinich says, he believes -- perhaps to a fault. He has passion that's impossible to feign. He knows this region intimately and can articulate both its problems and its potential eloquently.
But understanding problems and solving them are not the same thing. Fervor does not equal effectiveness. Voters on the West Side of Cleveland and in its western suburbs sent Kucinich to Washington in 1996. But since January 2003, much of his attention has been focused on an absolutely hopeless quest for the White House. In Kucinich's mind, these efforts have shaped the Democratic debate. He insists that if he had not been in this year's race, no one would have been talking about the war in Iraq, health care or trade policy. What hubris.
Tomorrow night as the nation watches to see if Hillary Clinton's campaign stumbles, there may be another presidential candidate who also faces his moment of truth: Dennis Kucinich
-- Jim Grinstead
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