Like a lot of people who consider themselves very liberal, I agree with most of what Kucinich says: I support single-payer health care, conversion of "free trade" to "fair trade," a (gradual) conversion of the largely US occupation of Iraq to a UN-run operation, etc. But you won't see me supporting Kucinich, not by a long shot.
Even leaving aside his odd looks and sometimes bizarre affect, the man doesn't have a shot. The country, while not anywhere near as conservative as the media would like you to believe, is just not ready for Kucinich's vision. It's not going to happen just because we wish it. You've got to work - like the Right has worked - to bring the country around to these views, and the Left just hasn't put in the effort, yet.
That's why I support Dean so whole-heartedly. I've decided that the thing I like best about him is that he's reminding the Left and liberals that, whatever they want to achieve, they've actually got to WORK for it, to ORGANIZE for it. The left and liberals have grown lazy, or lost sight of how to achieve great results, or given in too entirely to an individualistic outlook about politics. "Liberal" court decisions will not build our movement, once-every-four years campaigns will not do it, disparate groups each working to achieve their own ends won't do it either. We've got to organize and unify. Dean's a lot more conservative than I'd like, but he's doing the hard work of reminding us that we've got to work to move the country in our direction - its not just going to happen, and some liberal standard bearer is not going to come around some day and lead us to the promised land. We've got to fight.
The Right has it all figured out. They meet once a week - in fundamentalist churches - to organize themselves and develop solidarity. The left needs to respond in kind - we need to bring back person-to-person politics. As good as Kucinich's views are, and as much as I'd like to see his goals achieved, that's much further down the road than we currently are. Dean's campaign, in my view, is the first step on the journey to get there.