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Ron Paul & Dennis Kucinich Win Congressional Primaries |
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Wednesday, 05 March 2008 |
The independent thinking congressmen overcome challenges from inside their own parties
While Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul are polar opposites on most ideological issues involving the federal government and societal problems, they do share a lot in common. Most recently, during Tuesday's election, they shared the fact that their Congressional seats were being contested by members of their own party. In fact, senior party members and influential local media outlets threw a lot of support into ending Paul and Kucinich's political careers for good.
It didn't work. Joe Cimperman, a City Council member in Cleveland, was once a vocal supporter of Kucinich but that didn't stop him from running against Kucinich in the Democratic Congressional primary. Cimperman got endorsements from local newspapers, radio, and even Democratic party leaders like the mayor.
Chris Peden, a mayor pro-tempare in Ron Paul's district, was also once a vocal supporter of Paul. Perhaps sensing vulnerability Paul would be distracted by the national campaign, Peden also decided to run against the locally popular incumbant. Once again, he picked up newspaper and local television endorsements, and senior party members in the area also gave him some support. Both Paul and Kucinich won with comfortable margins tonight - they are incredibly popular in their local districts, and it is possibly because of this that they face resistance from the parties they associate with.
Since they don't particularly rely on party support, these two "insider independents" also don't toe the party line. If anything, they used their presidential campaigns to challenge it.
These idealists must be pragmatic enough to know that they had no chance of winning the presidential nominations by calling out the failures of their own side, but they shared the hope that bringing those issues up could shift the future policies of the Democrats and Republicans agenda (and the very issues that voters decide to make important). Although they went in with major local support, they knew they would find no friends at the national political/media level.
This is probably why they are so popular in their home districts - they seem to care more about advancing their communities than advanding the interests of Washington D.C.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 April 2008 )
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