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Super Tuesday: If Dennis Kucinich Loses, What Next?

In a battle to save his seat because of redistricting, Representative Dennis Kucinich hit the campaign trail, speaking here in Lorain, Ohio. (Michael McElroy/NYT)

Super Tuesday: If Dennis Kucinich Loses, What Next?

US Rep. Dennis Kucinich is fighting a tough primary battle in Ohio to stay in the US House of Representatives. Redistricting forced Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur, also a progressive Democrat, to battle it out for Ohio's reconfigured 9th District.

Pundits predict that Kaptur will win but it's never smart to bet on Kucinich's demise.

"Everybody always underestimates Dennis," said Harriet Applegate, executive secretary of the North Shore Federation of Labor, which is urging its members to support Kucinich's bid for a ninth term in Congress. "The bigger the turnout, the better Dennis' chances are."

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Politicoreports:

Kucinich Will Lose to Kaptur, Pundits Say

It's Super Tuesday -- and down ballot the big question is whether Dennis Kucinich will survive his Ohio primary with Marcy Kaptur?

The conventional wisdom is emphatically 'no'.

Despite a dearth of public polling, the oddsmakers are overwhelmingly picking Kaptur over the quirky Cleveland-based two-time presidential candidate. [...]

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And if Kucinich loses tonight? From a different Politicoreport today:

Kucinich's Post-Election Speech

What Kucinich says in his post-election speech will provide clues to his political future.

What Kucinich says in his post-election speech will provide clues to his political future.Kucinich, who can rely on a national following that stretches from Cleveland to Hollywood, would have the option of running in another state. In an interview with POLITICO last week, Andy Juniewicz, Kucinich's spokesman and longtime political strategist, repeatedly declined to rule out the possibility of Kucinich waging a 2012 congressional bid in Washington state, which has three vacant, Democratic-leaning seats and where the congressman made forays last year before ultimately deciding to run in Ohio.

Time is on Kucinich's side: Washington state's filing deadline isn't until May 18, giving him ample opportunity to prepare a bid.

If Kucinich is interested in running outside Ohio, it's likely he would drop a hint Tuesday night.

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Steve Cobble writes:

When Congressman Dennis Kucinich sat down in Los Angeles one night just over 10 years ago to write the prophetic speech that became known as "A Prayer for America," the invasion of Iraq was still just an evil gleam in the eyes of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Tony Blair. Yet Kucinich had the political courage to stand up by himself, and declare his opposition to the neocon lies:

"Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iraq. We did not authorize the invasion of Iran... We did not authorize war without end. We did not authorize a permanent war economy."

The Kucinich campaign has released the following ad based on Dennis' 2002 speech:

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