Kucinich's Words, Wife Are Turning Heads

Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich attended a fundraiser at Mis En Place restaurant in downtown Tampa during a presidential campaign stop Saturday.

JASON BEHNKEN / Tribune

By WILLIAM MARCH The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 27, 2007

TAMPA - Second-time presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich made three Tampa Bay stops in his first Florida campaign visit Saturday, bringing along his newest campaign asset, a striking British bride.

Kucinich, a congressman and former mayor from Cleveland and one of Congress's strongest opponents of the Iraq war, also brought some additions to the ardently liberal, antiwar message his small but zealous corps of supporters remembers from the 2004 race.

This time around, he advocates impeaching Vice President Dick Cheney and proposes a government jobs and environmental program called the "WGA," or Works Green Administration, modeled on Franklin Roosevelt's Depression-era WPA, or Works Progress Administration.

Kucinich remains an advocate of a national, universal health care system; abolishing or revising trade agreements; and eliminating what he calls excessive corporate influence in government.

But it's Elizabeth Kucinich, a tall, red-haired beauty, who has drawn attention recently to the campaign.

On Saturday, the couple went to a $25-per-person fundraiser at Mise En Place restaurant in downtown Tampa; a rally at a Feather Sound restaurant; then a Tampa League of United Latin American Citizens dinner at which he spoke.

At 6 feet tall, or 6 feet 2 inches in the heels she favors, she towers over the 5-foot-7 Kucinich. She's 29 to his 60, but not shy on the campaign trail, dealing with reporters and the public with poise.

The two were married in 2005 while she was visiting the United States as a volunteer for an organization that seeks to revise global monetary policy to combat poverty.

'I Felt Such Hope For America'

A former volunteer in Africa for the British version of the Peace Corps, she shares his liberal views. When she met him, she said, "At that moment I felt such hope for America. It made my heart sing."

The Tampa visit came about partly because of a group of progressive political activists in the St. Petersburg-Tampa area, including St. Petersburg Democratic Party activist Ed Helm.

Some backers said they have no illusions about the long odds of his candidacy, but think he will help force the Democratic field to the left.

"Any support we give him will push the other candidates more into an antiwar posture," said Bill Smith, a South Tampa retiree who came to the Tampa fundraiser. "I'm a champion of hopeless causes. I lived in Chicago for years and rooted for the Cubs."

But Linda Becker, who came from Orlando and calls herself "a real peacenik" from when she was a college student in the 1960s, said she's not so sure Kucinich can't win. "Things can change," she said. "He's out there with his opinions and you know where he stands."

A peace advocate from a later generation, recent University of Tampa graduate Joe Jacovino of Hudson, said Kucinich "says the things the other candidates like Hillary think, but she can't say them. He can, because he's not owned by anybody."

Kucinich barely registers in polls, getting 1 to 2 percent support among Democrats both in Florida and nationwide. But, Helm told the crowd, citing antiwar-funding votes by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton last week, "He is winning - he's forcing the other candidates to take real stands."

Kucinich told reporters he can win "by breaking out in the early primaries and caucuses," of which Florida is now one of the most prominent, "and by distinguishing myself from all the other candidates" on issues including the war, health care and trade.

Criticism Aimed At Bush, Congress

In his speech, Kucinich launched fiery rhetoric at the Bush administration, saying it has betrayed the morality of the American people, but also criticized the Democratic majority in Congress for failing to cut off funding for the war.

"Our nation and the people of Iraq are suffering the consequences of a war based on lies," and meanwhile, "this administration is preparing still another war on Iraq," he said.

He said the war "has become a criminal enterprise," with an amount he said will eventually exceed $1 trillion spent to enrich contractors including Cheney's Halliburton and "mercenaries" such as the Blackwater USA security firm.

"We've been led down a path," he said. "We were told Iraq had something to do with 9/11; it did not. We were told it had weapons of mass destruction; it did not."

Kucinich has filed legislation to impeach Cheney, but not Bush, he said, because Cheney was "a prime mover in the war" and "said over and over that they [Iraq] had weapons."

Besides, he added, if Bush was impeached, "Mr. Cheney would become president."

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com.