Dennis Kucinich: 'I'm a Long-Shot Candidate'

Nov. 15, 2007 — -- Calling himself a "long-shot candidate," Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio., blasted his fellow Democratic presidential contenders during an interview with ABC News, arguing that his rivals have given in to health insurers and big pharmaceutical companies.

"I'm the one candidate who is running for president who has the ability to stand up to the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies -- the other candidates have already capitulated," Kucinich said on 'Politics Live' Thursday on ABC News Now -- ABC's digital news channel.

"These insurance companies have a grip on Washington and on the Democratic Party," he said, arguing that he is the only presidential candidate with a health care plan that is completely not-for-profit.

The Ohio congressman said he is optimistic about his chances after a New York Times/CBS poll released this week had Kucinich in fifth place in New Hampshire with 5 percent support, but only four percentage points behind former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

"I know I'm a long-shot candidate," he said. "The fact that I went up to 5 percent in New Hampshire shows that I have to keep moving up. If I can get to third place, the race starts to change a little bit."

The poll had Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., first among Democratic likely primary voters at 37 percent support; Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., at 22 percent; Edwards at 9 percent; New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson at 6 percent; and Kucinich at 5 percent -- just squeaking past the poll's margin of error.

Kucinich beat out in the poll Sens. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who received 2 and 1 percent support, respectively.

The candidate accused the Iowa state Democratic Party of throwing support behind only the leading Democratic contenders.

"Iowa's been kind of a rigged game. The Iowa state Democratic Party wants to determine who the next president's going to be," he said.

Kucinich demurred when asked whether he thought Clinton would be electable in a general election.

"I'm not running for president against Hillary Clinton," he said. "I'm running for president so the people of this country can have jobs, health care, housing, food on the table, clothes on their kids' backs, a decent education, that's what I'm about."

Kucinich did say, however, that Clinton-era trade policies in the 1990s "took America in the wrong direction."

"NAFTA lost this country millions of jobs," he said. "I've stood behind closed plant gates where there's grass growing in parking lots where they used to make cars and steel and washing machines and bicycles."