WASHINGTON -- US Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, a former Cleveland mayor and self-described progressive, sought yesterday to inject new energy into his presidential campaign with an official announcement of candidacy focused heavily on his opposition to the US occupation of Iraq.

Kucinich said Dean should not be allowed to be portrayed as the antiwar candidate because Dean supports the occupation.

"I'm running for president of the United States to enable the armies of peace," Kucinich told supporters in Cleveland, alluding to his congressional proposal to create a Cabinet-level Department of Peace.

Much of the focus on the Iraq war on the campaign trail has been about whether the various Democratic presidential candidates gave President Bush too much leeway to go to war. Kucinich opposed the war resolution. Kucinich hopes to put new emphasis on his view that Bush's proposal to spend an additional $87 billion in Iraq, will help to continue the occupation of that country.

In a telephone interview Saturday, Kucinich aimed much of his criticism at former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who was perhaps as little-known as Kucinich earlier this year, but has risen in the polls partly due to publicity on his antiwar platform. But Kucinich said Dean should not be allowed to be portrayed as the antiwar candidate because Dean supports the occupation. Dean said on Aug. 12 on MSNBC that while he opposed the war, "we cannot leave because losing the peace is not an option."

"I am going to challenge him directly on that," Kucinich said. "We will see if he is able to gain the nomination while favoring the occupation."

Similarly, Kucinich said Senator John F. Kerry should be pressed on his views about withdrawing troops and Bush's $87 billion request for Iraq.

Kerry, who wants more international troops in Iraq, has not set a timetable for withdrawing US forces and has not decided how he will vote on the $87 billion proposal, a spokeswoman said last night.

Kucinich said he wants US troops replaced with UN forces by the end of the year.

While Kucinich has been on the campaign trail for about eight months, he and some of the other candidates have sought to create a new round of publicity by making "official" announcements of candidacy. Kucinich chose familiar surroundings: Cleveland City Council chambers. Kucinich served as mayor of Cleveland, starting as a 31-year-old, in 1977. During his term, the city went into default. Criticism mounted, and Kucinich one wore a bulletproof vest when he threw out a pitch at a Cleveland Indians game. He lost his reelection bid, became a state senator, and was elected in 1997 to the US House. He said in the interview that he may use an Ohio law that would allow him to run for president and reelection to Congress at the same time.

Kucinich, 57, has strived for months to gain as much media and public attention as some of the leading candidates. He is far behind the pack leaders in fund-raising and in the polls, but Kucinich said he is confident that he will pick up support once voters realize that he has a plan to extract US troops from Iraq quickly.

Kucinich said he would make the US occupation the "singular issue" on which he rests his candidacy, but he also said he would emphasize other issues on which he disagrees with some of the leading Democratic candidates, including:

Free trade: Kucinich favors ending the North American Free Trade Agreement, which reduces trade barriers between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. That differs from the position of some of the leading candidates, some of whom favor the modification of NAFTA to toughen environmental and labor standards but not the elimination of the entire agreement. Kucinich also wants to cancel US membership in the World Trade Organization.

Urban focus: Kucinich has made his focus on revitalizing the cities a major premise of his campaign. "No one has the depth of involvement in municipal government that I have," Kucinich said.

Health care: Kucinich favors a health care plan that provides insurance to everyone under what he calls enhanced "Medicare for All," which would be run by the government.

Repeal of the USA Patriot Act: Kucinich said Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Bush administration have violated the spirit of the Constitution by approving legislation that he said enables too much government access to private matters. "To allow our Bill of Rights to be nullified without judicial supervision invites tyranny," the Kucinich website says.

A national poll conducted Oct. 10-12 by the Gallup organization for CNN suggests that Kucinich was last among the nine candidates, with 3 percent.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.

© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company

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