Dennis Kucinich<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWelcome to Missouri, Dennis Kucinich. Dennis was squeezed out of his Cleveland district with far less of a chance to find another district in his home state than Russ has in Missouri. Along with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and members of the Black Caucus, Dennis Kucinich has been the finest progressive representative that we have in Congress. He desperately wants to stay in Congress. Even if there is a bit of hubris in his desire, it would be legal for him to move to Missouri and run in the 2nd District. He\u2019s a free agent, eligible to run wherever he likes. St. Louis is owne something from Cleveland. The Cardinals sent bona fide closer Chris Perez to Cleveland for Mark DeRosa, a terrific player and clubhouse presence, but he was injured; in essence damaged goods. So like basketball star LeBron James, Kucinich could “take his talents south from Cleveland.” Let\u2019s take Dennis Kucinich for the 2nd District as compensation.<\/p>\n
Could you imagine the fun of an experienced, skilled progressive such as Dennis Kucinich taking on Ed Martin, Jane Cunningham, or Ann Wagner? We\u2019ve learned from the special election in New York\u2019s 26th Congressional District that no safe Republican district is really safe if the Democrats field a good candidate and the Republicans try to defend the Paul Ryan budget debacle.<\/p>\n
When I ran in 2010, I was the most recent in a string of Democratic candidates with low name recognition. I believe that a Democrat who is a household name would have an excellent chance in the 2nd District, especially as it is reconfigured. Republicans have done a wonderful job convincing most Democrats as well as members of the media that Missouri in general, and the 2nd District in particular, are red.<\/p>\n
And how does Dennis win? By being an unapologetic progressive and beating the Republicans at their own game. I\u2019m not talking about dirty tricks. I\u2019m talking about certain policy goals. Republicans want to reduce annual budget deficits and eventually the national debt. Dennis could push for three things: (a) get out of Iraq and Afghanistan post haste<\/em>, (2) reinstate the taxes for the very wealthy that George Bush and gullible Democrats enacted, (3) support Medicare for All, which drastically cuts health care costs by eliminating parasitic profits by health insurance companies. Bingo, we\u2019re back to responsible budgeting and also have a better quality of life.<\/p>\nHe could also get government further out of our lives than Republicans could imagine by enthusiastically and articulately presenting the arguments to keep the government out of our bedrooms and other places where they don\u2019t belong. Dennis could show Ed, Jane, and Ann what a real conservative is like. If he wanted, he could even call himself a conservative and show that the true meaning of conservatism is conserving the advances that we have made through institutionalizing progressive policies in previous decades.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not for either me or\u00a0 Occasional Planet <\/em>to endorse candidates. But we can observe and offer advice. In a nutshell, I would advise Russ Carnahan that if that he wants to stay in Congress, he should jump into the race and make amends with others ASAP. If he doesn\u2019t, let\u2019s have Missouri claim Dennis Kucinich on waivers. How refreshing it would be to have the talk of the 2nd District be about Democrats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s been much speculation about possible Republican and Democratic nominees in Missouri\u2019s newly configured 2nd District. Republicans seem to have a beacon\u00a0 always pointed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,16,573],"tags":[758,1060,1059],"yoast_head":"\n
Russ Carnahan or Dennis Kucinich in MO\u2019s 2nd District?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Enough talk about Republicans in Missouri's Second District. It's time for Russ Carnahan to decide if he wants to be the Dem. cand. or we need Dennis Kucinich.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2011\/06\/02\/russ-carnahan-or-dennis-kucinich-in-mo\u2019s-2nd-district\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Russ Carnahan or Dennis Kucinich in MO\u2019s 2nd District?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Enough talk about Republicans in Missouri's Second District. 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![\"Russ](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.occasionalplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Carnahan-Russ-b.jpg\" "\\"Carnahan-Russ-b\\"")
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