UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSION

December 5, 2003

Alex Nseir
Staff Reporter, The Observer

CLEVELAND—While Dennis Kucinich’s appearance in Strosacker Auditorium on Dec. 1 was advertised and sponsored by university organizations, his previous visits to Strosacker probably went unnoticed. As a former student at Case he would have been a member of the audience, not the featured speaker. Kucinich received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Case, completing his MA in speech and communication in 1973. He also has a long history with the city of Cleveland as well as with Case.

A Cleveland native, Kucinich was elected the city’s mayor in 1977, and at the age of 31 he became the youngest person ever to lead a major American city. Kucinich campaigned for mayor on a promise to save the city’s municipally-owned electric system but he received harsh criticism and the nickname “Dennis the Menace” when he defied Cleveland’s banks, refusing to sell the public power company to a private firm. The banks, which had close relations with the private electric company, refused to renew the city’s credit and Cleveland defaulted on loans, the first major city to do so since the Great Depression. Kucinich was easily defeated in his bid for re-election in 1979.

The Congressman spent the next 15 years in political exile, failing to capture a House seat in 1988 and 1992. Finally, in 1994, he was elected to the Ohio state Senate. Two years later he defeated a Republican incumbent to become the U.S. Representative of the 10th Congressional District of Ohio, which encompasses western Cleveland and its suburbs. Now in his fourth term in the House of Representatives, Kucinich – a vegan since 1995 – has become one of the most liberal members of Congress and chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

While the divorced Catholic has been successful in his own Democratic district, many voters and party leaders consider him unelectable and lump him with the Rev. Al Sharpton and former Senator Carol Moseley-Braun at the bottom of the pack of the nine declared Democratic candidates.

If elected President, some of Kucinich’s more radical ideas include cutting the Pentagon budget by 15 percent to fund a universal pre-kindergarten program; creating both a national Department of Peace and a universal, government-run health care program; and withdrawing the U.S. from both the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization.

Although Cleveland’s former “boy” mayor seems a long shot at best to some spectators, Kucinich remains confident and has been campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire. The Congressman says that he has overcome long odds before, noting his return to political life after his stormy mayoral tenure and his defeat of Republican incumbents in 1977, 1994, and 1996.

Though Kucinich’s political career has been at the forefront of local politics for several years, a main concern for becoming a presidential candidate is getting widespread name recognition. On a recent episode of The Late Show with David Letterman, the host introduced a new segment called “Equations.” One of the equations stated “People who have heard of Dennis Kucinich – People in Dennis Kucinich’s family = 0.” With the primary season heating up after the first of the year, Kucinich’s drive to get his message – and name – out to the general public is at the top of his to-do list.

Source: The Observer
The Student Newspaper of Case Western Reserve University