Obama, Hillary, and Edwards are getting enormous play in the MSM. Some of us are none too thrilled with any of them. How would you rate these other possibilities, the ones the MSM has ignored?

Looks like Kucinich is more popular here than in the press or with the DLC.

Dennis, in my opinion anyway, is not terribly extreme in his Progressive views. He's not as extreme as many Conservatives are. But as long as the right wing continues to use broad strokes to paint the man as extreme, he will never be able to win election.

I personally like the man and think he would do this country a world of good as president. Swiftboat Vets were made for people like him.


We now live in a country that views Ronald Reagan as a centrist!

6- Gore
5- Kucinich
4- Richardson
3- Dodd

Did I hear Nader anyone? What can I say, I'm a registered Green.

I picked Gore, Richardson, Kucinich. If Nader was on there he would have been my first choice.

Same here. I still get shit from my family for supporting Nader but so be it. At the time, I didn't think as much of Gore as I do now.

I am also anxiously awaiting the Nader documentary being available from Netflix. I think he is an amazing man who is greatly under-rated.

Kuccinich seems to be the only candidate with a sense of independence...
I voted Nader in 2000 (in Palm Beach county, Florida... ok, ok... but I have to vote with my conscience, don't I?) because all Gore ever was until his documentary was a human pencil holder, and the power of the pillow might lead his wife to draft legislation restricting free speech. Not that I'm particularly fond of Gangsta rap lyrics, but if any CD with a parental advisory sticker was kept from release (as Tipper would be delighted to see happen) we'd never have had the chance to hear Rage Against the Machine, or American Idiot. That's unconstitutional, and just plain wrong!

Heres a man who knows what hes talking about! How come Gravel isnt up there!

Seems not only is he invisable, but he also doesn't show up on some people's radar.

I love what Kucinich has to say. Brilliant! moral! insightful! Here's why I question whether he coud be a great president (and we will need a great one): There's a book about his stint as mayor of Cleveland, written byTodd Swanstrom, political scientist and former aide to Kucinich. I think the title is "The Crisis of Growth Politics."

Swanstrom's take on Kucinich is that he was extroaordinarily effective as an opposition leader, articulating a very progressive agenda for the city and mobilizing Democratic voters. But once elected, he was unwilling to mend fences with the powerful factions he had denounced during the campaign (e.g., big business, banking, and finance) and unable to compromise. Cleveland then gained a reputation as "unfriendly to business" and it's solvency went down the drain with its economic development efforts. The city was then unable to finance the great social projects he had promised and ended up pretty ineffectual. You don't get very far in city government if you don't have the backing of local business, finance, and banking to underwrite bonds, extend credit, etc..

Swanstrom is a respected scholar and his book makes me think twice.

...and it scares me to death to hear Obama (in the debate) label Iran as a very dangerous enemy and repeat the mantra "the use of force is not off the table." Hillary has of course make similar statements and I think Edwards has too. Does anyone know where Kucinich and the others stand vis a vis the pro-Israel lobby that's so determined to prod the U.S. into attacking Iran, preferably with nuclear weapons?

One of the big hangups to Kucinich's reign in Cleveland was his unwillingness to sell the Cleveland Electric company to outside sources. In the short term it would have brought a cash windfall to the city which is all council and businesses were looking at. It was better for the city in the long run though to own their own power plant(which they still do to this day) and Dennis knew this. He stood in the way of a monopolization of the power plants by outside sources which would have not been advantageous to the citizens of the city. He stood up to Big Bidness and this is where much of the slack he caught at the time came from, even though in the end he was proven right.

http://kucinich.house.gov/SpotlightIssues/spotlight1.htm

The more I hear from Gravel (gra-vel), the more I like him. I don't agree with everything he says, but most of what he says.