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| Could this be Dennis Kucinich's last hurrah? |
| 2008-03-04 |
| Stephen Spuriell, National Review Dennis Kucinich may have dropped out of the presidential race, but his name is still on some Ohio ballots today: The six-term congressman is running for reelection, and if he wants to keep representing his Cleveland-area district, he'll have to beat a mischievous primary opponent named Joe Cimperman who has been passing out "Missing" posters featuring Kucinich's picture. Discontent over his preoccupation with presidential politics has prompted the first serious challenge Kucinich has faced since he won his seat in 1996, and it's not at all clear that he'll prevail. Cimperman's been running some pretty scathing and effective TV ads on the Cleveland stations. A lot of TV ads. I haven't seen Kucinich running anything in response. That tells me Cimperman has money and Mr. UFO doesn't. If he does, though, would it possible for a Republican to knock off Cleveland's moon man in November? Jim Trakas thinks so. Trakas, a former state representative, plans to run against Kucinich in the fall. Over coffee at Hanna Deli in downtown Cleveland, the affable campaigner acknowledges that it will be an uphill climb, but points out several reasons why he's optimistic enough to try it. First, he says, "There's a universal desire from the greater Cleveland business community, as well as the elites in town of all political persuasions, that Congressman Kucinich just hasn't gotten the job done, so it's time for somebody new. The question is can you win." Trakas anticipates that today's primary will show that he can, by revealing that Kucinich "has been tremendously wounded in the district." The primary has given influential Cleveland Democrats a chance to express their impatience with Kucinich's antics. The Cleveland Plain Dealer endorsed Kucinich's chief primary rival, Cleveland councilman Joe Cimperman, in an editorial that read, "Dennis Kucinich has finally faced up to reality and shelved his presidential fantasy for at least another four years. Now it is up to the Democrats of the 10th Congressional District to face up to reality and tell him his services are no longer required in Congress, either." The cover story in the current issue of the left-leaning alt-weekly Cleveland Scene encourages readers to get behind the idea of "Dumping Dennis," on the grounds that he's an absentee congressman who has engaged in more quixotic crusades than winnable fights. Ouch! When the progressive-anarcho-moonbat alt-weekly (the free paper with the gay personals section in its classifieds and the punk garage band on the front page) comes out against the country's foremost progressive-anarcho-moonbat, you know he's in trouble. Were he Kucinich’s only challenger, Cimperman would probably have the votes to prevail. As it is, he's just one of four Democrats vying for Kucinich's seat. Kucinich will benefit from these lesser-known challengers splitting the vote, and it's likely (though not certain) that his hard-core supporters — ethnic, working-class Cleveland Democrats who It's also quite possible that Ron Paul will also lose his primary. Today could see two prominent whack-job conspiracy-freak surrender monkeys put out to pasture. Truly an auspicious day for America! |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #5 UPDATE: I am saddened to report that the Slavic solidarity bloc prevailed, and Dennis has survived the primary. |
| Posted by: Mike 2008-03-04 23:53 |
| #4 It's not called The Mistake on the Lake for nothing... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2008-03-04 11:41 |
| #3 ...If the PD and the Scene - which never met a lefty it didn't like - aren't endorsing Kucinich, it's over. I really don't think he's got the base left to make it. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2008-03-04 11:02 |
| #2 I'm sure Like I've said, if we paid a million a year to our lawmakers, some adult would have already taken the kid's playtime away long ago. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-03-04 09:27 |
| #1 Wonder how his hot wife will like living with him in his car? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-03-04 08:49 |