Kucinich's opponent raises big bucks real fast.

[cyclezealot]

Seems Kucinich's main opponent entered the Congressional race in early Jan and raised over 200,000 k in about two months time. Think Cimperman will be a big fighter for Single Payer, take to task Blackwater with the finesse Kucinich did, lobby as hardily against lousy trade deals. The nation stands to loose a fighter if good old boy politics wins out over progressive policy.

***
Cimperman is the big-fund raiser in the 10th Congressional District campaign

Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman raised nearly five times the money that incumbent Dennis Kucinich raised in the 10th Congressional District race, according to financial disclosure reports filed Thursday.

Kucinich, who has spent the past year running for president, raised a total of just $47,000 -- a third of which was raised in the last three months of 2007.

The filing period runs through Dec. 31.

Most of Cimperman's $228,000 in contributions came from lawyers, developers, bankers and business associates. Forest City Enterprises Ratner family contributed $11,000 and the Ohio Savings Bank-affiliated Goldberg family gave $13,800.

About 40 people gave Cimperman the maximum amount of $2,300, including Scott Wolstein, head of Developers Diversified Realty Corp. and lead developer of the Flats East Bank neighborhood, Legacy Village developer Mitch Schneider, event promoter Mike Belkin and Republican investor Jeff Jacobs.

Cimperman had nearly $205,000 cash on hand at the end of last year.

Kucinich, who had only $13,400, recently made an urgent appeal to his supporters for money, saying he was "under attack by corporate interests, most of them from the city of Cleveland, who have an agenda that has nothing to do with the people of my community, nor with most people in this country."

http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2008/01/molly_kavanaugh.html

[Horse with no Name]

1. I'll kick in a few bucks for Dennis

Since I don't have a Presidential candidate anymore.

[cyclezealot]

2. thanks .

I know the feeling.

[BridgeTheGap]

3. I wonder what the polling is showing in this race?

The district obviously likes DK or they wouldn't keep sending him back. But, it certainly wouldn't hurt if he has the cash to defend himself on the airwaves.

[cyclezealot]

4. Cimperman is just like GW Bush.

Tell a lie enough , people start to believe it. Cimperman claims Kucinich ignored Cleveland in a vanity race for president. Kucinich had only a 11% absentee rate in the House this past year. Well below average. That is what a Congressman is elected to do. Further, Kucinich took all American cities urban agenda to a national stage. That is where they need by heard, instead of just sitting in the home office drinking coffee. Cleveland's issues never left Kucinich's agenda whether he was in Cleveland, New Hampshire or DC.

[onenote]

5. actually, missing 11 percent of the votes is a pretty bad record. Not below average at all.

In the first session of the 110th Congress, the avergage "absentee rate" for Democratic members was 3.6 percent. DK, who missed 11.5 percent of the votes, is nearly three times over the average. In fact, out of 435 members of Congress, only 29 have worse records than DK in terms of missing votes, and that includes three members that died and one that retired. Only 11 Democrats had worse attendance records than DK.

Just sayin...

[fenriswolf]

7. why don't you look up

what senators clinton and obama record is, you'll find dennis is above average.

[onenote]

16. you have a bizzarre concept of "average"

I provided you with the information that addresses your claim. The average number of votes missed by any member of the House of Represenatives during the first session of the 110th Congress is 4.2 percent. For Democrats, its 3.6 percent. Dennis is well above that.

The point isn't whether he missed more votes than Clinton or Obama or Ron Paul or DUncan HUnter or anyone else running for president. The people criticizing DK's neglect of his district aren't running against them. If someone wants to run against Ron Paul because he showed up even less, good for them. It doesn't make DK's record "above average".

[cyclezealot]

19. You missed a crucial point.

Look to the record of Cimperman's very own congressperson. He does not live in Kucinich's district. He lives in Tubb's , who has 3 times as many absences. This thing if obviously put up on false lies. 138 votes is not a big deal. A real guide to Kucinich's services is his constituency services. You don't judge that. please see the adjacent thread. # 11.

[onenote]

24. you apparently missed it too. And how do you get to 3x as many absences for Tubbs?

Interesting that you would criticize me for not mentioning Tubbs when you didnt' mention her in the post to which I was replying. That post clearly suggested that missing 11 percent of the votes was "well below average" and that those running against him were "lying" when they repeated the charge that he had missed a lot of votes. You still haven't admitted you were wrong about the average attendance. Instead, you've tried to change the subject from whether DK's attendance record is better or worse than average to how it compares to Clinton and Obama and now its to Tubbs. If someone want to run against Tubbs because of her missed votes, so be it.

And as for your newest claim, which is that Tubbs has three times the absences as DK, that might well be true if you compare them for their entire Congressional careers (I haven't taken the time to do so). However, for the 110th Congress the record indicates that she has missed 12.1% of the votes and DK has missed 11.5% -- a difference of 7 votes out of over 1200 taken.

Finally, to be clear, I have no objection to DK and wouldn't mind him being re-elected. I just have a problem with posts that misstate facts.

[cyclezealot]

26. Cimperman lives in Tubb's district, not Kucinich's

The point is not Tubbs/ Kucinich's attendence. The point is Cimperman's lives in Tubbs district; Tubbs voting misses are twice as great as Kucinich's.
Link below. ( yes. sometimes you need do you math , not in your head, but see it on paper.)
Stephanie Jones missed 626 of 5848 votes (11%) since Jan 6, 1999. The graph to the left shows the number of missed votes over time. Click for a larger chart.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=400208

Dennis Kucinich missed 346 of 7034 votes (5%) since Jan 7, 1997. The graph to the left shows the number of missed votes over time. Click for a larger chart. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=400227

I am not picking on Rep. Tubb's . But Cimperman's lack of honesty. He should run in his own district and take on his own Congress member who has missed twice as much as Kucinich.

[cyclezealot]

10. guess the 11% is based on this survey.

From The Washington Post's
U.S. Congress Votes Database
<http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/>

============== Roll Call Vote Absenteeism
= Statistic: = by Congressional Members
============== Who Are 2008 Presidential Candidates


============= Kucinich is king.
= Analysis: = Biden is out to lunch.
============= Clinton performs better than Paul, Tancredo and Duncan.


11.6% - Dennis Kucinich
<http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/k000336/>


22.1% - Hillary Clinton
<http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/c001041/>


26.9% - Ron Paul
<http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/p000583/>


29.1% - Tom Tancredo
<http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/t000458/>


29.6% - Duncan Hunter
<http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/h000981/>


38.2% - Joseph Biden
<http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/b000444/>
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.politics.libertarian/browse_thread/thread/35bde82382e703c6

[onenote]

17. again, comparing DK to other candidate is not the point

The candidates running against DK aren't running against Biden or Hunter or Clinton. If someone runs against them based on their attendance record, so be it. Maybe DK missed fewer votes than the other candidates...he still missed a lot more than around 93% of the members of Congress (and 95% of the Democrats).

[BridgeTheGap]

14. DK won in '04 & '06 by fairly comfortable margins & ran for Pres in '04

I don't think his constituency will buy the argument that DK sacrificed their wants and needs to run for President.

[Zodiak]

From what I understand, it is the DLC doing this

They do everything in their power to reduce the voice of progressives in the Democratic party.

This is also why I will never vote for another DLCer...ever. Party unity only has meaning for them when progressives have to swallow their shit. They do not even attempt to bring us to the table.

[1776Forever]

8. Right on - Did you know about the guy down in Florida named Clint Curtis?

Here is his website:

http://clint-curtis.blogspot.com/

He is the guy that testified before the Congress on voting fraud. He worked for the voting machine manufacturer that asked him to make the vote transpose from one candidate to the other. He said "No!". Now he is getting no help from the DNC. I do not understand it.

By the way he has an interesting article on his site on the NH voting.

:hide:

[never_get_over_it]

22. Well technically

the voting machine company didn't ask him to write code to steal elections - Congressman Tom Feeney did. Feeney is the repunk Curtis ran against in 2006 and is trying to run against in 2008

Tom Feeney belongs in prison not Congress....

[Individualist]

13. No doubt about it.

DLC is the reason the party is FUBAR.

[onenote]

18. got anything to back that up other than "from what I understand"

[wintersoulja]

27. from what youve led us to believe

there can be no doubt about it.

[onenote]

28. okay, at least we know the answer: you've got nothing.

[wintersoulja]

35. hold that note a little longer

Kucinich must be the undead the way youre leaning on the stake.

[NNN0LHI]

34. Some people say those who accuse people of things "from what they understand" are full of beans

[leveymg]

6. They're going to try to make an example of Dennis. SOP

THEY'LL TRY TO PURGE US, TOO. JUST LIKE 1992, 1948 AND 1919.

[donkeyotay]

20. We are being purged.

Almost like the Chamber of Commerce had raised $60 million to put an end to this populist uprising, or something.

[Selatius]

9. Cimperman sounds like a corporate tool supported by bankers and developers.

They're the ones who helped create urban blight to begin with with the gentrification and the foreclosures in inner-city areas.

[cyclezealot]

11. I won't vouch for the integrity of this website.

But in Googling I came across this information. Have they done their research?
Hope so. The Seminal. Do they know what they are talkng about. ?
%%

As you've probably heard, Dennis Kucinich has dropped out of the race for the White House after pulling poor support in early primaries and caucuses, as well as being shut out of multiple debates. He stated at a press conference at the International Laborers' Union in Cleveland:

There is a point at which you just realize that you, look, you accept it, that it isn't going to happen and you move on.

As I've suggested before, Kucinich serves to shift the principles of the election towards a more progressive outlook, and he has. He vows to continue this kind of principled action into a new organization which we only know is called integritynow.org.

Now Dennis faces new challenges in his own district. Four challengers have been strongly campaigning against Kucinich, the leader being Joe Cimperman, a City Councilman from the 13th Ward of Cleveland. Cimperman's tactics, however, are far removed from integrity. While focusing on Kucinich's absence from the 10th District during his Presidential campaigning, he's violated Federal Law by filming inside of Kucinich's Cleveland office and also by posting "WANTED" posters around Cleveland. And it turns out Cimperman isn't just attacking Kucinich in shady ways, but also other competitors in the race for the 10th. In a dastardly shameful move, Cimperman's campaign bought up domain names that Tom O'Grady, Mayor of Cleveland suburb North Olmstead, would want to use in his bid for Congress. (A similar move was pulled on Kucinich's 2004 Presidential bid, by the way. One of his Republican opponents bought kucinich.com and turned it a satire site).

What we really find out, though, is that Cimperman's more anti-Kucinich than pro-Cleveland. One of his smear videos against Kucinich states that he's missed 300+ votes, which is "more than any other Congressman". That's just not true, for one. Kucinich ranks average for all of Congress, plus his absenteeism during the Presidential campaign season (all of 2007) amounts to only about 184 votes. Secondly, and more importantly, Councilman Cimperman isn't even running for Congress in the district which, as Cleveland blogger Callahan points out, represents most of his Ward. That distinct would be the 11th, currently represented by Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Tubbs Jones, however, is far from a progressive Democrat: she has been strongly in favor of free trade, actively supporting the recent Peru Free Trade Agreement. Not to mention she likes to take trips paid for by lobbyists (note: I feel dirty citing a Michelle Malkin article) and, oddly enough, sits on the House Ethics committee (!). And concerning her voting attendence, Tubbs Jones has missed 600+ votes, which GovTrack.us considers "Very Poor" relative to her peers.

It's apparent that Cimperman simply has a vendetta against Progressive members of Congress. If he was serious about making Congress better and representing the people of Cleveland, he'd be replacing the representative in his district rather than going after Kucinich.

http://www.theseminal.com/2008/01/28/kucinich-drops-eyes-underhanded-dems-in-oh-10/

[cyclezealot]

12. Please note Tubbs has a higher absentee rate than Kucinich

Cimperman lives in Rep. Tubb's district;not Kucinich's . Yet, goes after Kucinich for being absent. That is fishy. You can cofirm Tubb's missed votes by going to the same Washington Post survery mentioned above. The blog above provides links to its sources.

[MonkeyFunk]

36. what's fishy?

He's not running against Tubbs - if he were, I imagine he would bring it up.

But what has Tubb's record got to do with the claim that Kucinich missed a lot of votes? It's true regardless of what Tubbs or any other member of the House does.

[fascisthunter]

15. kick (nt)

[Blackhatjack]

21. Edwards supporters will step up and help Kucinich. Guaranteed. BUT...

This is exactly the reason that progressives have to stick together in good times and bad.

Kucinich did himself and the progressive movement no favors when he attacked John Edwards rather than directing his fire at the real threats to our democracy.

I believe Kucinich is principled and sincere, and I have defended him often over the years.

But politics is no arena to enter without your friends and supporters, some of which will NOT agree with you on every single issue you have taken a rock hard position on.

I hope Kucinich will be reelected, and as a non-constituent I will do what I can. But there is a lesson to be learned here --know your enemies, know your friends and supporters, and don't forget we all need to watch each other's back.

It would help if Kucinich would reach out to Edwards supporters and let's work together for the Country we all deserve.

[cyclezealot]

23. Tell me I was wrong.

Yes. I too was miffed at Edwards. Not just for being an early proponent of the war along with Lieberman. It is difficult to forgive Hillary over that one. / But what about Edward's chat with Hillary before Iowa, asking they get Kucinich out of here. We believe in everyone' right to speak and hear their causes. OK, lets get over our midunderstandings; but there might be some cause for our being tiffed , too. And as you say know your enemies. Edwards to a lesser extent was done in by the same media forces that went after Kucinich. So, lets listen to each other and fight a on a common front. And in the meanwhile, forget the past, because we have a common enemy.

[Blackhatjack]

25. Actually you are wrong ... but that does not matter. Kucinich needs to rebuild some bridges he burnt

... and he needs to do it quickly.

THere is not one instance in which Edwards publicly attacked Kucinich, but the reverse is certainly not true.

Neither you nor I or anyone else know what was said between Edwards and Clinton in private conversations before Iowa. Catching an open mike comment of one or two sentences is not indicative that Edwards tried to 'get Kucinich out of here.'

We do face the common enemies, and fighting among ourselves will not help us overcome them. But don't forget that Kucinich violated the first rule of politics - Know your friends, disagree in private with them if you must, but show a united front in public.

He now needs those he attacked publicly to ward off a serious attempt to oust him from Congress. I would advise anyone I know to support him, and it would help bring others to his side if he did more than pout about he was the only one on the stage who was right.

[cyclezealot]

29. Sure looked like his head was bobbing up and down.

and so the pundits seemed to agree. For what they are worth.

[Blackhatjack]

31. "Pundits... Agree?!!" LOL ... You Won't Stake Your Life On What They Believe, Will You?

Look.... this threat to Kucinich is serious, well funded, and intended to squelch his advocacy on the very same issues that John Edwards has raised in his Campaign and in his life outside of politics.

I hope that people outside of DU realize how important it is that progressives get the support they need to be heard. I am under no illusions as to who our enemies are, and how well funded they are. I do think Kucinich understands this, and it made his quick exit from his Presidential Campaign necessary.

We need to put pressure on the Democratic Party to back Kucinich's reelection bid. THat is one way we can support Kucinich other than just sending him $$ --but of course that is important as well.

P.S. I think the same advice should be given to Russ Feingold as well. He has no idea how many supporters he lost as a result of his unnecessary negative comments about Edwards. You would think if he had any future aspirations for higher office somebody close to him would have advised against his making those comments. Politics is a numbers game, and every supporter is precious. He may have to learn that the hard way.

[cyclezealot]

32. I don't think Feingold has aspirations for higher office.

he might be slightly more inclined to twist populist issues. About Kucinich. I think he had the same impression I did from watching Edwards head bob up and down. And as Kucinich sacrificed himself when he was Mayor over Muny Electric , his populist instincts comes first , his career second. He can't help himself.

[Blackhatjack]

33. You may be right about Feingold. His actions are consistent with that conclusion...

And when it comes to interpreting the hidden meanings of 'bobbing heads' I think you are only guessing.

I won't bother to tell you what 'impression' I got watching Kucinich go through his entire range of 'angry man' antics.

You have to admit there was not another Candidate on the Debate Stage who held progressive positions closer to Kucinich than Edwards.

And yet that was not enough for him. You have to ask why?

[CK_John]

30. DK should pay his bills and look for new line of work. n/t