The OK Corral Is Now OHIO And KUCINICH!

The OK Corral Is Now OHIO And KUCINICH! Fasten Your Seatbelts And Keep Your Heads Down. This Is Going To Get Rough!

"Only my candidacy gives the American people a real choice and only my candidacy gives the American people a real debate," Kucinich said in a video statement to supporters after losing his legal appeal in Nevada. "I will persist in my efforts to elevate the public interest, the cause of our Constitution, and the people's right to have a government they can call their own."

Kucinich's backers believe he'll win re-election and say his office provides superlative performance on constituent service issues like passport difficulties. He retains support from Cuyahoga County's Democratic Party and local organized labor.

"It is our belief that he is going to win the congressional primary, whether he's in the presidential election or not, because he is Dennis, his constituents are supporting him, and they are going to vote for him," says Colleen Corrigan Day, executive director of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.

Despite his reputation in some circles as a political flake, Dennis Kucinich is as shrewd and organized about electoral fundamentals as anyone in the business, and his base of support in the 10th District is wide and deep. If he wants to stay in Congress, he’ll do what he has to, and he’ll be very hard to beat.

This congressional seat is really owned by organized labor. The real question now is if big labor wants Kucinich, who has done their every bidding, enough to force Cimperman out of the race or pave the way for a different position for Cimperman . Let the games begin now that it is clear that the Kucinich team of old is ready to March on Cuyahoga County. They are flying in from across the nation on a daily basis and they are an accomplished potent force to be reckoned with. They are experienced and they know how to fight; they are no young dreamers, just tenacious street fighter precinct masters.

Political scientists in the area say Kucinich is likely to win his primary because his critics will divide their votes among his opponents, who, in addition to Palmer and O'Grady, are Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman and Barbara Ferris, Kucinich's unsuccessful 2006 primary foe.

Kucinich Drops Presidential Quest To Focus On Congressional Race.

Friday, January 25, 2008
Molly Kavanaugh and Mark Naymik
Plain Dealer Reporters

Dennis Kucinich Is Staying Home.

Re-Elect Dennis Kucinich for Congress

Two weeks after insisting he could run for Congress and president at the same time, his decision Thursday to drop his second bid for the White House suggests he is concerned about winning a seventh term in Congress.

He faces four candidates in the Democratic primary, including Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman, who has become his chief rival by raising hundreds of thousands of dollars and winning media attention.

Kucinich, 61, who has easily won re-election previously, wouldn't say Thursday what influence his contested congressional race had on his decision to drop out of the presidential contest. Kucinich will hold a news conference at noon today at a downtown union hall to explain his decision.

He cited his exclusion from national debates and the practical strains of running a national campaign as reasons for leaving.

"There is a point at which you just realize that you, look, you accept it, that it isn't going to happen and you move on," he said during a congressional endorsement interview with The Plain Dealer editorial board and reporters. Kucinich stayed in the 2004 presidential race until late summer, when he had little competition for re-election back home.

When he kicked off his congressional re-election bid Jan. 9, he said he would focus on his local race, but then ratcheted up his presidential bid, campaigning in Michigan and Nevada and filing unsuccessful legal appeals to stay on the ballot in Texas and to win a spot on stage during presidential debates. He has fared poorly in early presidential contests.

Meanwhile, the congressional race made headlines when Cimperman revealed that Kucinich had asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to investigate a Cimperman campaign stunt. Cimperman entered Kucinich's Lakewood office Jan. 3 with a camera-toting campaign worker to drop off a "missing" poster mocking Kucinich's presidential travels.

And this week, Cimperman launched a television advertisement critical of Kucinich's time away from the 10th Congressional District, which includes Cleveland's West Side and western suburbs.

Kucinich countered with a video appealing for immediate contributions and revamped his re-election Web site. Borrowing a page from his days as a populist mayor, he charged that corporations were behind Cimperman's campaign.

"Right now I'm under attack by corporate interests, most of them from the city of Cleveland, who have an agenda that has nothing to do with the people of my community," he said in the video.

Cimperman, referring to money Kucinich raises from Hollywood actors, repeated one of his favorite lines Thursday: "The money I raise is from Cleveland, his is from California."

Cimperman campaigned for Kucinich two years ago after he was reassured by the congressman that he would not run for president again. Five weeks after being re-elected, Kucinich announced he had changed his mind.

Kucinich defended his decision during Thursday's interview, saying Democrats got elected in 2006 to end the war, and within weeks they voted to fund it.

"When I heard that, I knew that I was going to have to challenge my party nationally and there was only one way to do that," he said.

Kucinich said he has "zero intention" of getting involved in the presidential primaries by endorsing another Democratic candidate.

Congressional challenger Rosemary Palmer, another supporter of Kucinich's re-election in 2006, said Kucinich's move does not affect her campaign.

"I entered this race in June because I did not feel he was focused on the job, nor able to effect the change we so desperately need. On issues of job creation, health care, the environment and the Iraq war, Mr. Kucinich often talks a good game but seldom delivers," she said in a prepared statement.

North Olmsted Mayor Thomas O'Grady, another challenger, has had little criticism of Kucinich other than to complain about his time away from the district. He said Thursday that if Kucinich had dropped his bid for the White House sooner, he probably wouldn't be running for Congress.

"It's my hope that he redirects his interest back to the district," said O'Grady, speaking from Washington, D.C., where he is attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

O'Grady said he has no plans to drop out.

Candidate Barbara Ferris, former Peace Corps and United Nations worker who was trounced by Kucinich two years ago, said the congressman hasn't done much.

"He was unable to achieve anything running for president; he was unable to achieve in 11 years in Congress," she said.

Always coy about his political plans, Kucinich described his departure from the presidential race as "transitioning out" but would not say what that means. Nor did he address the criticisms of his opponents.

"I want people to know that I love this community and that I have repeatedly put my career on the line for this community," he said. "I want to make sure there is no confusion in this district about what my intention is. I want to be the congressman."

To reach these Plain Dealer reporters:
mkavanaugh@plaind.com, 216-999-4334;
mnaymik@plaind.com, 216-999-4849

The Race Tracker Ohio 10th Congressional District

The Opposition

Joe Cimperman, This one can wage a serious “system-type, system-oriented, good old boy type campaign”!

Cimperman profile

Councilman's Web site

See a video of Joe Cimperman's annoucement that he will run for Congress

Cimperman to challenge Kucinich.

Video: Cimperman's announcement.

Video: Cimperman visits Kucinich's office.

Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has just picked up another opponent.

But not in his long-shot bid for the White House.

Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman will announce Tuesday that he is running for his fellow Democrat's 10th Congressional seat, which includes the West Side of Cleveland and the city's western suburbs.

Kucinich refuses to say if he plans to seek a seventh term next year; the filing deadline is a month away.

If Kucinich does run for re-election, Cimperman, who represents downtown Cleveland, will be Kucinich's first serious challenger in either a primary or general election since he was elected to Congress in 1996.

That year, Kucinich, playing up his Cleveland roots and espousing an anti-Washington message, knocked off two-term Republican Martin Hoke.

Ohio's primary is March 4.

Cimperman, 37, is an energetic campaigner whose populist fights have long earned him comparisons to Kucinich.

Like Kucinich's past campaigns, Cimperman's will feature his Cleveland roots.

"I'm a son of the city who has a passion for this community," he said.

When Cimperman was elected to council 10 years ago, he was a political nobody, a social worker at the West Side Catholic Center who grew up on Cleveland's near East Side, the son of a machinist.

Since then, he's become the political point person on development and housing downtown while maintaining his advocacy for the poor. He's also forged a relationship with some of the region's biggest businessmen, who have given tens of thousands of dollars to his campaigns.

Kucinich spokeswoman Natalie Laber would not comment on Cimperman but suggested his bid for the seat is tainted.

Referring to Kucinich, Laber said, "Whether he runs or not, the seat doesn't belong to him, it belongs to the people of the district, not corporate developers."

Kucinich praised Cimperman in the past.

"I think he has a great potential," Kucinich said in a 1999 Plain Dealer article. "He is passionately involved with his community. He's an activist, and an activist approach is necessary in order to catalyze the progress of the people you represent. I can identify with that."

Cimperman said Kucinich's second bid for the White House triggered his decision to run against the one-time ally.

"The community needs a full-time congressman," said Cimperman, who lives just outside the district.

Asked about his ability to be a full-time councilman while campaigning for Congress, Cimperman said he can do both much easier than Kucinich can serve his district while running for president.

"There's a difference in travel time along I-480 and going to Honolulu."

Rosemary Palmer, Paul Hackett has become a man desperate for a political career who has sacrificed his once revered integrity. That didn’t take long! Her Iraq War position actually works to Dennis’ advantage.

Barbara Anne Ferris

Thomas O'Grady O’Grady In!

Are The Democrats challenging Kucinich in the March primary.

Speculations Dismissed!

This Candidacy could have been a real problem!

Jerid at Buckeye State Blog says Parma Mayor Dean DiPiero is in the race to oust Dennis Kucinich from his 10th Congressional District seat. This follows a Plain Dealer Openers post yesterday in which DiPiero told Stephen Koff he’s “keeping his options open.”

Koff makes the point, obliquely, that DiPiero could simply be positioning himself as frontrunner in case Kucinich decides to relinquish his seat. But Jerid thinks he’s in it for a race against the incumbent. He sees the hands of County Prosecutor Bill Mason and Recorder Pat O’Malley in DiPiero’s supposed decision (makes sense to me.)

If DiPiero is in the race, and Kucinich wants to keep his seat, then Dennis faces a genuine primary for the first time since he beat Republican Martin Hoke in 1996.

Normally this would be no contest. DiPiero has no electoral history outside of Parma, Middleburg Heights, Brooklyn and Linndale — the communities that make up the 15th Ohio House District, which he represented in Columbus for five years — which together contribute only a fifth of Democratic primary votes in the District. He’s “Dean who?” in Cleveland (another fifth) or the suburbs farther west. Organized labor, which loves Kucinich, matters more in the 10th CD than anywhere else in the area — especially in a primary. The Mason-O’Malley “machine” doesn’t really have all that fearsome a track record. If he’s really threatened, Kucinich has access to lots of money. And Dennis has a history of kicking ass in Parma, DiPiero’s own home base.

But with all that said, DiPiero is a real politician, unlike Rosemary Palmer or Barbara Ferris. If he’s thinking seriously about this race — against an incumbent Democrat who can do him a lot of damage — he has a theory of how to win it. He has money commitments. And he has some kind of polling data that shows him (and potential funders) an opening.

So if DiPiero’s really in, Kucinich had better run a real primary campaign. And with the Ohio primary set for March 4, that means he’ll have to spend January and February (at least) in the District — not in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, etc.

Furthermore, if there’s a real primary — and Kucinich wants to keep his hat in both rings — he’s going to have to start offering local voters a more convincing explanation of his Presidential campaign than “I’m going to win.”

Despite his reputation in some circles as a political flake, Dennis Kucinich is as shrewd and organized about electoral fundamentals as anyone in the business, and his base of support in the 10th District is wide and deep. If he wants to stay in Congress, he’ll do what he has to, and he’ll be very hard to beat.

The question is, does he really want to?

Or does Dean DiPiero know something we don’t?

Right Angle Blog » Cimperman to Run Against Kucinich
To me, though I have nothing to substantiate it, this seems like a pretty strong indication that Kucinich won’t be running for re-election in the 10th.

WRONG!!!!

OH-10: This congressional seat is really owned by organized labor. The real question now is if big labor wants Kucinich, who has done their every bidding, enough to force Cimperman out of the race or pave the way for a different position for Cimperman . Let the games begin now that it is clear that the Kucinich team of old is ready to March on Cuyahoga County. They are flying in from across the nation on a daily basis and they are an accomplished potent force to be reckoned with. They are experienced and they know how to fight; they are no young dreamers, just tenacious street fighter precinct masters.

Other News, Campaign Chatter and Current Northeast Ohio Spin:

Kucinich

Democratic Party (The OHIO Scene)

Breaking News (The OHIO Scene)

Congressional candidates state their case to replace Kucinich
Four Democrats are running in the March primary to replace Congressman Dennis Kucinich.


One Kucinich opponent running against him again
Barbara Anne Ferris is hoping for a different outcome in her second race against Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

OH-10: Cimperman (D), Other Challengers Raise Big Money Against Kucinich (D)
Submitted by Jeff on Fri, 01/04/2008 - 1:51am.

Mark Naymik posted an eye-popping item on the Openers blog last night about fund-raising in the 10th Ohio Congressional District. He reports that city council member Joe Cimperman (D-Cleveland) has raised $226,000 in just about one month, and Rosemary Palmer (D-Cleveland) has raised about $130,000 since she started campaigning last summer. The other challengers are not quite so flush -- Barbara Anne Ferris (D-Cleveland) has raised about $35,000 and Mayor Tom O'Grady (D-North Olmsted) about $30,000.

That's a total of about $421,000 amassed against Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Cleveland), who does not appear to have given his congressional re-election campaign much thought at all. However, Naymik reports that he plans to have a campaign kickoff event at the North Shore AFL/CIO headquarters on Wednesday.

P.S. I was at the Meet The Bloggers session with Rosemary Palmer Tuesday. (George has some short excerpts.) She is a very nice lady who, when asked what she wanted to do as a Congresswoman about health insurance, education, or foreclosures, simply had nothing to say. Her most recent press hit was a challenge to Kucinich to debate. I say, be careful what you wish for.

Kucinich's absences from the district while running for president have been a consistent campaign theme for the four Democrats seeking his seat in Ohio's primary, also on March 4. Kucinich will appear on the ballot for president and Congress in his own district.

"There is a conflict of commitment," says 10th District candidate Rosemary Palmer, a Gold Star mother, former journalist and teacher. "He wants to be president, so that's where his heart is."

"I think it is great that Dennis has a voice on issues he feels are important and is bringing that to the national stage in his presidential run, but we still need someone whose focus is here in the 10th Congressional District, getting things done for our citizens," adds another Kucinich opponent, North Olmsted Mayor Thomas O'Grady.

Kucinich sees no conflict in running for two offices and says his run for president provides him with a national platform for issues that matter to his constituents in Cleveland - like ending the Iraq war, enacting manufacturing and trade policies that protect workers and the environment, and establishing a nonprofit national health care system.

"Only my candidacy gives the American people a real choice and only my candidacy gives the American people a real debate," Kucinich said in a video statement to supporters after losing his legal appeal in Nevada. "I will persist in my efforts to elevate the public interest, the cause of our Constitution, and the people's right to have a government they can call their own."

Kucinich's backers believe he'll win re-election and say his office provides superlative performance on constituent service issues like passport difficulties. He retains support from Cuyahoga County's Democratic Party and local organized labor.

"It is our belief that he is going to win the congressional primary, whether he's in the presidential election or not, because he is Dennis, his constituents are supporting him, and they are going to vote for him," says Colleen Corrigan Day, executive director of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.

Political scientists in the area say Kucinich is likely to win his primary because his critics will divide their votes among his opponents, who, in addition to Palmer and O'Grady, are Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman and Barbara Ferris, Kucinich's unsuccessful 2006 primary foe.

Posted by lakewood216 on 12/04/07 at 11:22AM

Volts, who do you want to run for this seat? Ken Blackwell? Boehner?

DunlopReggie, if you want a conservative Christian Republican to win the district, conservative Christian Republicans have to move into the 10th District en masse first. Even the GOP-friendly areas (Rocky River, Brecksville, Independence, Westlake, north end of Strongsville) of the 10th district aren't exactly hotbeds for conservative/evangelical Christianity.

A Republican who insults the working class and calls them lazy will not win the 10th district. Ohio conservatives (the ones on cleveland.com) seem to have utter contempt for those below their own social class, even the white working class. California conservatives (California being my old stomping grounds) generally concealed their classism toward working class whites by focusing their ire towards ethnic minorities and to a lesser extent gays. Ohio conservatives (due to their proportionally larger numbers here along with Ohio being less diverse) have no problem bashing the white working class.


Now There Is True Ohio Red Neck Bullshit!

Impeachment and Re-Elect Dennis Kucinich (David Swanson Pod Cast mp3)

Kucinich Silenced By Mainstream Media

Concord Monitor - Concord,NH,USA

Not-for-profit health care that would cover all Americans - silenced. Ending the war and opposing continued funding of the war - silenced. Legislation to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney for taking us into a war based on deception, thereby killing more than a million innocent people - silenced. Fighting trade policies that allow millions of jobs to be outsourced - silenced.

Is anyone else wondering why Dennis Kucinich, the only politician fighting the corrupt link between the government and corporate America, is continually being silenced by media giants ABC and NBC - media giants funded by health insurance companies and military defense contractors? If not, you should be.

Kucinich is only "unelectable" because so many people allow themselves to be brainwashed by the mainstream media. It's understandable to some extent. It's easy to allow yourself to accept what the media tells you when you think you're still living in a democracy.

The fact is, the United States is more an oligarchy than a democracy at this point in its history.

I urge everyone to seek out news from small, independent presses that have nothing to gain by covering up the truth.

Tricia Orr Warner

The presidential candidates are dropping like flies, but that’s not stopping them from receiving thousands of belated votes in the primaries.

Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter may have dropped out of the Republican race, but more than 25,000 voters made their way to polling places Tuesday to make marks for them on Florida ballots.

Likewise, former Democratic hopefuls Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich and Chris Dodd had announced their withdrawal from the race before the Tuesday primary, but combined, they received a total of almost 3 percent of the vote — more than 45,000 votes.

That’s right, more than 70,000 people in the Florida primary alone voted for candidates who are no longer viable.

That makes about 4 percent of the total votes in the primary essentially worthless.

Maybe voters wanted to make a statement that they were still behind their candidates (who, technically, can no longer claim that title) no matter what, or maybe it was a vote for “None-Of-The-Above”! I can understand that.

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