2/18/2004

Ohio's turn coming soon

Kucinich returns home two weeks before Super Tuesday

Jessica Alaimo
Daily Kent Stater

CLEVELAND — Waving a flag with a picture of the globe, Gianna Cioffi shivered in the cold as she waited for Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich to arrive at Cleveland State yesterday.

Cioffi, junior political science major at Cleveland State, held a sign sporting Kucinich’s face and the slogan, “The eyes that see through the lies.”

Cioffi, along with about 50 others, gathered around Kucinich in the plaza outside the Music and Communication building. Kucinich asked the attendees for their support as he promised to end job losses and make medical care free and not-for-profit.

If he were elected, Kucinich said he would make higher education free at public universities. He said tax cuts need to be eliminated to do so.

“It’s easy math,” Kucinich said in an interview after the rally. “The administration needs to take the tax cut money and put it into a fund to create free education.”

Kucinich called for a change of the nation’s priorities and promised to bring troops home from Iraq.

“There is money for the Pentagon budget and the war in Iraq, but no money for higher education,” Kucinich said.

Cioffi, who supports Kucinich because of his views on funding higher education and ending the war in Iraq, said Kucinich still has hope of winning the Democratic presidential nomination.

Kucinich said the race for the Ohio Democratic nominee will come down to him and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. He noted that Kerry had supported the war and the Patriot Act and supports the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Kucinich blames for the elimination of manufacturing jobs.

Kucinich currently lags behind front-runners Kerry, John Edwards and Howard Dean in the Democratic presidential primaries.

If Kucinich does not make it in the race, Derek Arnold, senior math major at Cleveland State, said he doesn’t know who he would support in the general election.

“He listens more than any other candidate,” Arnold said. “He (Kucinich) is more in tune with the average person. He’s for the working poor.”

Not old enough to vote, Wooster High School sophomore Eric Mendenhall attended the rally to help gather support for Kucinich.

“He generally wants to help people,” Mendenhall said.

If the war in Iraq does not end soon, Kucinich said there will be a draft in 2005.

“Kent State knows more about the price a campus pays when a nation is at war,” Kucinich said, referring to the shootings May 4, 1970.

Valerie Ross, senior sociology major at Cleveland State who used to work for Kucinich’s campaign, supports Kucinich for his honesty.

“He’s the only credible candidate that we have,” Ross said.

Brad Hull, law student at Cleveland State, does not support Kucinich for president because of the $15 million deficit he led Cleveland into 25 years ago when he was mayor, which Hull said is unforgivable.

“I’d never trust him to make an executive decision,” Hull said.

Hull shook his head at the size of Kucinich’s crowd and called it pathetic as he walked away.

The sizes of Kucinich’s crowds have varied, said Jack Popp, who works for Kucinich’s campaign. He said the turnout at Cleveland State was small compared to the more than 1,000 people who gathered at the University of Wisconsin.

Kucinich will continue campaigning throughout Ohio during the next few days with stops in Dayton and Cincinnati.

Cioffi said the globe on her flag stood for the elimination of sovereign nations. Electing Kucinich would be a step in that direction, she said.

“He’s working to change the system,” Cioffi said.

E-mail: jalaimo@kent.edu “He’s the only credible candidate that we have,” Ross said.

Brad Hull, law student at Cleveland State, does not support Kucinich for president because of the $15 million deficit he led Cleveland into 25 years ago when he was mayor, which Hull said is unforgivable.

“I’d never trust him to make an executive decision,” Hull said.

Hull shook his head at the size of Kucinich’s crowd and called it pathetic as he walked away.

The sizes of Kucinich’s crowds have varied, said Jack Popp, who works for Kucinich’s campaign. He said the turnout at Cleveland State was small compared to the more than 1,000 people who gathered at the University of Wisconsin.

Kucinich will continue campaigning throughout Ohio during the next few days with stops in Dayton and Cincinnati.

Cioffi said the globe on her flag stood for the elimination of sovereign nations. Electing Kucinich would be a step in that direction, she said.

“He’s working to change the system,” Cioffi said.

E-mail: jalaimo@kent.edu