For First Time in 16 Years, Dennis Kucinich Loses His Seat in Congress due to Gerrymandered District

For First Time in 16 Years, Kucinich Loses His Seat
By SABRINA TAVERNISE

In a primary faceoff between two veteran Democratic incumbents, voters
in Ohio delivered a victory to Representative Marcy Kaptur, a
progressive from Toledo, over Representative Dennis J. Kucinich,
leaving him without a seat in Congress for the first time in 16 years.

Mr. Kucinich conceded just past midnight Wednesday. With nearly 85
percent of the vote counted, Ms. Kaptur led Mr. Kucinich, her
colleague and frequent ally in the House, by about 24 points in the
race to represent Ohio's recently redrawn Ninth Congressional
District.

The outcome was largely expected. Mr. Kucinich, an antiwar populist
from Cleveland who has run for president twice, lost his district when
state lawmakers redrew the electoral map after Ohio, whose population
has been dwindling, lost two Congressional seats last year. The new
district — a skinny strip of land that covers parts of five counties
from Cleveland to Toledo — contained more of Ms. Kaptur's old
territory than Mr. Kucinich's, and Mr. Kucinich had been struggling to
win over voters in areas beyond his traditional stronghold of
Cleveland.

It is not clear whether Mr. Kucinich will try to run for public office
somewhere else. After his district was eliminated last year, he
visited Washington State to explore his options, though his spokesman,
Andy Juniewicz, said that Mr. Kucinich had said he "never had any
intention of leaving Cleveland."

Most political analysts agreed that Mr. Kucinich would likely remain
in the public sphere, even if he was not in elected office, either in
a research group or as a television commentator.

"Dennis has this remarkable ability to persist," said Dennis E.
Eckart, a former Democratic congressman from Cleveland. "He will not
go quietly into the good night."

Ms. Kaptur is one of the longest-serving women in the House and has a
powerful position as the No. 2 Democrat on the House appropriations
committee. She stands to become the top Democrat on that committee
when Norm Dicks of Washington retires.

One of the most common criticisms of Mr. Kucinich by local elected
officials was that he focused more on national issues than local ones,
and Mr. Eckart said that people in the district expected that to
change with Ms. Kaptur, who was seen as a powerful advocate for her
constituents.

"She is famously well connected on appropriations, and it will be
worth tens of millions of dollars in a community that was once ranked
as one of the poorest in the nation," Mr. Eckart said. "Having someone
like her going to bat for you is an advantage."

Ms. Kaptur will face a general election race against Samuel
Wurzelbacher, better known as "Joe the Plumber," who announced his
candidacy last year. The district, however, is heavily Democratic, and
Ms. Kaptur is broadly expected to win.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/us/politics/after-ohio-primary-kucinich-loses-seat-in-congress.html?scp=2&sq=kucinich&st=cse
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Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

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Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

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