World Peace is a Hard Sell

CONCORD, NH
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D - Ohio) paid a visit to the New Hampshire Technical Institute for a forum hosted by the Physicians for a National Health Program. The auditorium held a crowd of about 65 people who came to hear the candidate's position on a national health care initiative.

To be honest, I didn't have much time to cover the event. I wished I had the ability to hear more of what he had to say on issues of health care reform and other pressing campaign topics, especially his twelve point plan on getting the country out of the Iraq war (which he has been laboring on since the war began). My reporter and I did get a brief interview with Congressman Kucinich before he was introduced, and I was able to hear some very worthwhile sound bites.

Ultimately I realized that Dennis Kucinich has the resume of what people want to see in a candidate - voted consistently against the war, has been actively writing legislation on health care, isn't your typical beltway politician, believes in brutal honesty - but he just comes off a little too passionate for people to feel he's credible. He has a very interesting perception of ethics and an awareness that many Americans don't know how to react when they hear it from a politician. It puts the public off-center to hear him attempt to do the admirable thing. Yes I know that sounds odd, but it's true.

I would like to see him get better results in this primary than the last go-round, but his campaign is banking on some righteous accountability "owed" to him from his steadfast position on the war in Iraq that might need a few reality deposits for it to be covered. Put simply - "Less Cosmos, More Concrete". His approach is still a bit too new-agey for the the country to hop aboard.

I digress, I wish I had more time to hear his views today. But I will say that before I make any final decisions, I will give him a fair review of his status and demeanor to the issues. The debates in April will be interesting to say the least.

Let the Primary Begin! (even if it's 9 mo. early)

Dover, NH
For a Saturday morning, the Dover High School cafeteria was unusually packed. Over one thousand people attended the town hall style meeting for New York Senator Hillary Clinton. She was introduced by Freshman Senator Carol Shea-Porter (1st District) and greeted the crowd with a chipper yet focused energy.

Senator Clinton almost didn't make this trip to New Hampshire because of her duty to vote on the House Resolution to rebuke the President's decision to send more troops into the Iraq war.

That vote, as predicted by Senator Clinton prior to leaving for Washington, failed by a margin of four votes. She stated that the importance of having the vote, admittedly without enough Republican support was to hold those Republicans accountable in the further discussions on the war in Iraq.

On a more editorial note, Senator Clinton's meeting on Saturday was very focused and actually proposed concrete solutions to buttress her campaign promises. She is showing that she is not only aware of the topics on everyone's minds, but she has been in an arena to actually craft logical approaches and lead with examples.

Two of the other democratic candidates that I have covered in the past few weeks were Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. One is riding high on the popularity wave, while the other is working the room like a stand-up observational comic. But both are pro-topic pundits. Pro- health/education/environment, anti-war/nukes/oil. But neither has given any clear or concrete example of how they would address the issue if they were commander in chief, save approaches on the environment (which are really no comparison given the complexity of war).

So, as it stands now, Hillary has allegedly a stronger platform to stump on, but it is very early on in this New Hampshire Primary season. Let's see how well the candidates hold up over the next year and see if they can put their policies where there mouth is.

Tomorrow I will comment on America's zaniest underdog since Jerry Brown, Congressman Dennis Kucinich from Ohio.

Snow Daze

 
Well, at least I had a chance to "work" today. It took over an hour and a half to get into work Wednesday because of the Nor'easter. But when I got there, I just sat around growing bored. Then this call came in - tame at best. No one was injured, response teams were mellow and polite. The most work I did was taking pictures of the newsroom so I can blog to you now.
tah dah!