OH-10: Kucinich to Receive a Major Primary Challenge?

[stuartrida]

OH-10: Kucinich to Receive a Major Primary Challenge?
by: James L.
Thu May 17, 2007 at 11:37:32 AM EDT

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Dean DePiero, the popular mayor of Parma, Ohio's seventh largest city, said last week that he is considering challenging Kucinich, a six-term congressman from Lakewood, in next year's March 4 primary election. DePiero, former minority leader of the Ohio House, will be unopposed for a new four-year mayoral term in November and could run from cover against Kucinich.

Cleveland-area political observers say that many residents of the 10th District are fed up with Kucinich's quixotic quests for the presidency and grouse that he does not pay sufficient attention to the district. Even so, DePiero admitted that Kucinich would be difficult to beat in a primary in the district, which includes most of the west side of Cleveland and the western and southern suburbs in Cuyahoga County.

As the current mayor of Parma, Dean DePiero leads the largest suburb of Cleveland. He also served as the Democratic Minority Leader in the state House before his election as mayor in 2004. Should he decide to run, DePiero would give Kucinich his first major primary challenge in years, but it's not yet clear how vulnerable Kucinich would be to such a campaign. One thing's for sure, though: Dennis' Presidential aspirations would certainly be complicated if he had to spend his time battling in Cuyahoga County instead of Des Moines and Manchester. I'm not yet on the bandwagon, but I am intrigued. And by the looks of it, so are the Buckeye Staters.


http://swingstateproject.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=506

[SaveElmer]

1. Where do I send a check?...nt

[jimshoes]

2. That's the beauty of our system

Not saying whether he has a chance, but it will be a good barometer for DK to see how the voters of Ohio 10 feel.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Hmmm Well I love Dennis and would hate to lose him from the House except

in the case of him becoming president.

[w4rma]

4. I like Kucinich **a lot**, but there is one thing that is really bugging me right now with him.

He is head of the committee that is supposed to be investigating Katrina. Lieberman is head of the sister committee in the Senate and has said that he won't be investigating much of anything. So all of the Katrina investigations are up to Kucinich, but unlike Waxman's committee, I haven't heard **anything** out of Kucinich's committee on this since he started running for President.

The victims of Katrina are and must rely on Kucinich for this (LIEberman won't do it). But, his committee has been largely silent.

[mopinko]

5. dk- paper tiger

i agree with most of what he says, he just doesn't seem to do anything but propose legislation and release statements. and when the votes were stolen, he was nowhere to be found.

[saracat]

7. Yup! But many will jump one for saying so on DU.

[mopinko]

11. things that make you go

hmmmmmmm. why is dk a saint a totally ineffectual saint of the left. how handy.

[mopinko]

6. dupe

[AnOhioan]

8. Let him run against Dennis

I live in the area...Depiero has some support, but nowhere near enough to unseat Dennis. I am sure Dennis is staying up late worrying it. :sarcasm:

[CTLawGuy]

9. I hope that the left will welcome the primary challenge

because we used it against Lieberman and I think it did good. Primaries keep our politicians accountable to us as party members.

[IndianaGreen]

10. Let's see more of the draft age children in OH-10 join the military and go to Iraq

Neither Bush nor the DLC Democrats have the stomach or the inclination to end the war, only Dennis does!

[TSIAS]

12. Good

For once, the left will have the chance to kick the ass of some GOP Lite, DLC centrist in a primary. Then all the DLC'rs can learn to live with the result of the primary.

[WCGreen]

13. I know Dean DePiero very well...

He isn't the type to do anything on a whim...

I also have heard that President of Cleveland City Council, Martin Sweeney, is also considering a run against DK...

Marty was loyal to current Mayor Frank Jackson while DK was a big supporter of former Mayor, Jane Campbell...

It would be a bloody test since DK's power base is layered over and above the party base...

DK holds his people close to the vest...

His people, who hold a lot of seats on the Executive Committee as well close to a hundred Precinct Committee people in the 10th District, about a third of all the seats, are loyal to DK first and the party second...

But DePiero has strong allies such as new Democratic Governor Ted Strickland, State Party Chairman, Chris Redfern and newly elected Attorney General Marc Dann as well as mayors from all the neighboring suburbs...

Not to mention the close relationship DePiero has with County Prosecutor, Bill Mason and Democratic Party County Chairman and County Commissioner, Jimmy Dimora...

Of course all of this could be just a ruse put together by private enemies of DK who are still angry with him for letting Cleveland fall into default almost two generations ago...

In any event, this is big city politics at it's best or worse depending on whose side you are on...

DK is notoriously vicious when facing a confrontation, you have to be to rise in Cleveland politics, but DePiero, Mason, Dimora, Redfern and Dann are all seasoned political fighters and you can't forget that Martin Sweeney is the president of Cleveland City Council...

This could end up being as much a downy brook as the infamous 1992 democratic campaign in this very district where long time Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar faced six challengers in the democratic primary and an unknown, but spunky candidate, was able to capture the Plain Dealer endorsement and set the stage for a wild primary...

That spunky candidate was a 32 year old accountant who went on to work within the party structure for the next ten years and learned more about big city politics that he sometime likes to share with others even if they don't really value his opinions and experience...