The bomb has been dropped folks...Dennis Kucinich has hinted that he is considering asking Republican candidate Ron Paul as his running mate. Paul's campaign in turn said that while they "are friends and there is a lot of mutual respect", Mr. Paul is too committed to reducing the size of the Federal government to join his ticket. Immediately the National Jewish Democratic Council issued a statement indicating their outrage over such a possible pairing, namely because of Paul's positions regarding the middle east.
What an interesting proposal. For months I have been saying that the two are one and the same, at least in how they represent the farther reaches of their respective parties wings. If only I had blogged about it, for the record at least. This does bring up an interesting possibility, a third party run for the two...
With all the talk in the press about media magnate Michael Bloomberg's potential as a spoiler in the Presidential race, it's clear that this pairing has much more potential as a spoiler, but for which candidate. I think it's fair to say that both candidates represent voters who feel disenfranchised by their respective parties. According to open secrets.org Dennis Kucinich has raised $2,130,200, compared to Ron Paul's $8,229,811. While this is a relatively small sum compared to the frontrunner's war chests, and Mitt Romney's personal fortune, it definitely shows strong support for the two candidates.
Could the two candidates combine their efforts and actually contend and maybe even win the Presidency as independents. Although unlikely, it is possible, especially when you consider how many people feel so disenfranchised by the entire political process. Although it is obviously a different scenario, Jesse Ventura when my home state's Governor's race, in part by reaching out to those who usually don't vote, as well as utilizing the then underused tool known as the Internet. Both Kucinich and Paul fit into both of those categories.
I will continue to follow this pairing, however unlikely it would be, but I think the most important issue is who would be President. Soft power and influence aside, America is not a Parliamentary system, so whoever would be VP would have virtually no authority to do anything on their agenda and would have to rely solely on any "agreement" made between the two before they began campaigning.
2 comments:
Interesting post as well Mike. I like both of these guys, to be completely honest.
As far as MN CD 6, Tinklenberg would have to be labeled the favorite, most of the major unions in the state have endorsed him and his transportation lobby ties are going to raise a boatload of money for him.
Regardless of where he stands on social issues, I hate the cronyism and cannot support him because of that.
How can you admire both of these guys? They are complete polar opposites from one another. Kucinich wants a complete government run healthcare system while Paul would have no government at all involved in healthcare. Kucinich would redistribute everyones wealth, while Paul would stick to strict capitalism. Having people admire both of these fringe canidates only shows the complete disfranishment people feel towards our broken two party system.
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