As the list of individuals running to supplant President Obama begins to take shape -- Huck and Mitch out, Newt and Tim in -- one of the anticipated entrants has decided against making still another run.
I speak, of course, of 2004 and 2008 Presidential aspirant Dennis John Kucinich.
I saw this news in a blog post by 32nd LD Democrats member and former Shoreline City Councilmember Janet Way, who was an eager participant in yesterday's vegan-pancake event. Ms. Way closes her gushing, photo-heavy report with this paragraph (emphasis added):
He did not confirm or deny that he'd decided to make a move here or to run for congress from here, and that he just "hasn't decided yet" what he'll do. Wahington [sic] State is scheduled to gain a congressional district this next year. He had quite a bit of support in this district when he ran for president twice. He did say, in response to a direct question that he does not plan to run for president in 2012.
As I see it, this statement greatly increases the possibility that the
carpetbagger cowardly Representative of OH-10 will turn tail from what would have been an incumbent vs. incumbent primary against
Betty Sutton (OH-13) or
Marcia Fudge (OH-11), and slink off to feed his ego in a district 2400 miles from his home. IOW, making this edition of his biennial
losing quixotic
ego trip campaign a race for a Washington House seat instead of the Presidency.
If he does decide to come out this way to make another of his crazy runs, it will be interesting to see what he does in May or June of next year. That's Washington's "Filing Week", when all aspirants for all elective offices must make their candidacy official. This year, for municipal and county races, it's June 6-10, and it'll be a similar timeframe next year. That's an important date for all candidates, of course, but it will be particularly intriguing for Kucinich if he chooses to run for Congress here.
That's because of section (1) of RCW 29A.20.021, the state's requirements for filing to appear on a Washington state ballot:
(1) A person filing a declaration of candidacy for an office shall, at the time of filing, be a registered voter and possess the qualifications specified by law for persons who may be elected to the office.
be a registered voter ... that's the key phrase. To run for office in Washington, he has to be a registered voter in Washington. He will need to register at least a week before he files, and probably more to account for administrative delay. He'll have to give up his Ohio voter registration.
Which means that Congressman Kucinich would be representing an Ohio district, through January 2013, while he is registered to vote in another state. Though the US Constitution doesn't bar that -- one has to be a resident of the state to be elected, but nothing is said about non-residence while already in office -- it would hardly be a strong selling point for a Congressional candidate.
To resolve this problem, Kucinich could resign his seat before registering in Washington. But what are the chances that this ego-driven narcissist would surrender a position that comprises the only reason anyone listens to him? He'd try to have it both ways, I'm sure.
Let's face it ... in many ways, Dennis Kucinich is the left's version of Jeff Flake. The Arizonan rails on and on and on about earmarks, offering amendments that rarely see the light of day (at least, until the Tea Party 112th Congress opened). Kucinich, with his bills of impeachment and his purity trollery on many issues, e.g. the healthcare reform bill, is just as ineffective and just as unimportant as Flake. He's sponsored virtually no bills that became law, especially if you exclude those all-important post office renamings. Even H.R. 676, which he often crows about as "his" single-payer bill, is in fact John Conyers's bill. Kucinich is always an early co-sponsor of the bill (though this year he didn't sign on until four days after Conyers introduced it), but he's just one of many co-sponsors.
As you can tell, I'm no Kucinich fanboy. I think he's a sideshow act, ever more tiresome. If it turns out that he's such a chicken that he won't compete for the support of his lifelong neighbors, and slithers away to Washington, I'll do what I can to back another Democrat in whichever district he might choose.
I won't be the only one, not by a long shot.