Dennis Kucinich on the Campaign Trail

— -- ABCNEWS' Melinda Arons is on the road with Representative Kucinich. For the latest report, scroll down.

The Heartbreak Kid

NEW YORK CITY, Feb. 13 — In what can only be described as perhaps the most bizarre episode yet in the 2004 presidential campaign (which is saying a lot when the candidate in question has been known to participate in collective meditation rituals at fundraisers), Rep. Kucinich stopped by the Tonight Show Thursday night and participated in a spoof of "The Dating Game."

The image of a presidential candidate standing next to Jay Leno on a retro psychadelic game show set was surreal enough, but the contestants' fame and racy answers made it downright Fellini-esque. The participants included Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Tilly, lithe blonde radio talk show host Kim Serafin, who's reminiscent of a Gen X Ann Coulter, and actress Cybil Shepherd.

Some highlights (or, one could argue, lowlights):

*Jennifer Tilly asking in her best Betty Boop voice "How's your hanging chad?"

*Cybil Shepherd screaming "I'm ready for a wardrobe malfunction!" after which she lifted up her dress to reveal satin pink underwear.

*Shepherd towering over Kucinich and trying to make out with him after not being picked, then reprising the skrit-lifting to make sure Kucinich had the chance to see it.

*The young blonde, in what's safe to call a politically incorrect answer, claiming that if she were First Lady and the Chinese president came to the White House, she assumes he'd be bringing take-out so would order the number 4.

Kucinich ended up choosing Bachelorette number 1, Jennifer Tilly, and seemed genuinely shocked and delighted a the contestants' true identities. One can only assume he would have preferred to stay and have a real interview with Jay before heading out, but instead the vegan and his date were sent to dinner on the show at the raw food eatery Raw.

Kucinich's bachelorhood has been a blessing and a curse. While allowing the media-starved candidate to get some much needed coverage, it comes at a price. Participate in gimmicks (remember politicsnh.com' "Who Wants to be a First Lady?" contest?) and risk further ridicule when you'd rather be talking about Iraq and NAFTA, or settle for nothing at all.

Kucinich finds no delegates, but has a good time in late night

NEW YORK CITY, Feb. 3 — Knowing he wouldn't get much airtime on the networks Tuesday night as returns hovering between 0 and 3 percent trickled in, Rep. Kucinich instead took to the airwaves on the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.

Kucinich talked about his opposition to the war in Iraq and his belief that the nomination fight will go all the way to the convention, where he'll "have as good a chance as anybody" to win the nod. Problem is, you have to pick up some delegates at some point to get there, and tonight Kucinich scored not a one, despite his best showing yet with 5 percent of the vote in New Mexico.

In between bizarre stunts, like making Kucinich shoot free throws (all three of which he missed) while holding a plastic baby doll, Kilborn actually managed to get Kucinich to talk about things he usually doesn't, such as liking George Bush personally. When challenged during the "Five Questions" segment to name one thing he liked about the president, Kucinich said that "when you meet him, he's a very engaging guy."

Kucinich campaigns in Washington state for the next few days before hitting Michigan Friday. The campaign maintains that there are 42 contests left to and that this is only the beginning. They will focus their energies on states where they have decent organizations and grass roots support, such as Washington and Maine.

And as indication that the campaign is still operating on a small scale, new press secretary William Rivers Pitt proclaimed his excitement at finally getting to join the campaign on the road full-time by enthusing "I can't wait to get back in the van!" — a reference to the inevitable rented van which transports Kucinich and a few key staffers in each city.

Oops, He Did It Again

JAN 28--Rep. Kucinich left New Hampshire much like he left Iowa, with a last place finish and an enthusiastic, if unrealistic, pledge to keep trucking though in every state to pick up delegates and eventually win the nomination.

The crowd was in a frenzy by the end of Kucinich's speech at campaign headquarters in downtown Manchester Tuesday night, chanting his name and jumping up and down so much that the floor shook. Seemingly undeterred by his meager two percent showing, Kucinich gave his signature anti-war rallying cry and claimed his campaign is viable throughout the country: "Some candidates put all their eggs in one basket…I put a lot of little eggs in 50 baskets."

The gathering was distinctly Kucinich-ian in flavor. Feeling more like a city council victory party than a presidential primary, there was a relatively small but dedicated audience, homemade signs and scattered balloons. After his speech Kucinich's campaign manager Dot Maver, a peace activist and "healer" with no previous political experience, passed Kucinich a note from which he thanked everyone from a woman who held several house parties in the state to the caterers who provided food for the event.

Performances included a peace rap by the sequin-and-striped-clad Moriah and John, newlywed singers following the campaign around for their honeymoon, and a gospel group wearing yellow and pruple robes led by a man in a preacher's uniform imploring the audience to not buy products from chain stores. In thanking the activists from "Democreation" who've been campaigning for the candidate in a psychadellic van, Kucinich bragged that the New York Times described it as "something right out of the sixties," and received wild applause. At most Kucinich events it seems nothing could make the crowd happier than to be transported back to the Summer of Love.

True to his promise, Kucinich and staff take off for Oklahoma tomorrow to make a play in the Feb.3 state, and will likely stay in the race longer than anyone other than the nominee. Unlike his rivals, Kucinich doesn't have to drop out to save face after poor showings because he has no expectations to meet, and he's raised enough money to continue flying commercially, talking to supporters and keeping his anti-war message on the table.

As New Hampshire campaign director Mary MacArthur told ABC News, "Think of what the candidates were talking about before Dennis got into the race and what they're talking about now. To me, that's all that matters."

A New Sheriff in Town

While certainly not a shake-up, the campaign is changing its media strategy. National press secretary David Swanson, who kept a grueling schedule as the campaign's main spokesperson but who oftentimes had a prickly relationship with the press, has given his two weeks notice.

Replacing him is author and journalist William Rivers Pitt. Pitt, who wrote "War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know" with former weapons inspector Scott Ritter and who currently edits the website TruthOut.org, was covering Kucinich last week in Iowa. He blended in so well that Kucinich offered him the position, and he will now travel full-time with the candidate. The campaign worries its relationship with the media has been damaged by its previously defensive attitude toward the mainstream press, something they hope Pitt can remedy. As Pitt told ABC News, "There's a new sheriff in town."

Iowa state coordinator Dave Rogers has now been dispatched to head up advance in upcoming contests, and heads to New Mexico tomorrow.

Ads

I wasn't able to get through to the media staffers tonight to confrim which ads were running where and what their titles are, but this is the latest info I have: there are two new Kucinich ads began airing Monday 1/26 and address issues of trade and health care. They are airing on Maine stations WGME (CBS), WCSH (NBC), WLBZ (NBC), WABI (CBS), Massachusetts station WHDH (NBC), Oklahoma stations KOTV (CBS), KTUL (ABC), KFOR (NBC), KWTV (CBS), CNN and MTV in Tulsa, CNN and MTV and USA in Oklahoma City, and New Mexico stations KOAT (ABC) and KOBTV (NBC).

Reality Bites

Congressman Dennis Kucinich was the only candidate in the 2004 Iowa caucuses to actually come in exactly where he'd been expected to from the start: dead last.But unlike Rep. Gephardt and the other top-tier candidates who will inevitably drop out to save face after disappointing finishes, Kucinich tried to turn Monday night's defeat into a rallying cry for his die-hard following, pledging to take his anti-war campaign all the way to the convention.

Amid the wild cheers of a packed ballroom after the caucus results had come in, a hoarse and red-faced Kucinich employed that special brand of logic unique to him and his supporters - which he terms as optimistic but others might call delusional: "We started off one of nine candidates and were considered to be in ninth place. Because we came to Iowa…because we took this message to Iowa, over a period of 11 months we've moved up from ninth to fifth. We're gonna bring our troops home, we're gonna keep this campaign going, we're gonna go on to New Hampshire, South Carolina, New Mexico, Arizona, to the West, to the North, to the South…we will win at the convention!"

But despite Kucinich's seemingly endless enthusiasm, the Iowa staff couldn't help but seem deflated. The hefty amount of time Kucinich has spent in Iowa essentially rested on the shoulders of only two men, State Political Director John Friedrich and State Coordinator Dave Rogers. Exhausted after the last few days' breakneck pace, Friedrich tried to put a positive spin on the night, saying Kucinich had already outlasted Graham and now Gephardt so therefore could outlast everyone else. It's unclear what role state staffers will play in the continuing campaign.

Kucinich will take an early morning commercial flight to New Hampshire tomorrow, where he will give a "State of the State" speech via live webcast to counter the President's State of the Union. He campaigns in New Hampshire through the primary with the exception of a bus tour around Maine on Wednesday.

Let's Make a Deal

The campaign caused a stir Monday afternoon when it announced publicly that Kucinich and Sen. John Edwards would encourage their supporters to caucus with the other candidate in cases of where each candidate was inviable.

Neither campaign expected to make the plan known, and Kucinich and his staffers had for days denied that they were encouraging any second choices, but word leaked and the campaign felt it necessary to clarify that the agreement did not indicate any plans for him to drop out and endorse Edwards or any other candidate. Though rumored to be a possibility all weekend, the Edwards-Kucinich alliance proves the dictum "politics makes strange bedfellows." Kucinich has always had a warm and friendly relationship with Edwards and his wife Elizabeth, who makes a point to seek the Congressman out for a hug and a smile at group events, but his decision speaks more to his feelings about Dean than it does about Edwards.

Outside a rally in Iowa City Monday, Kucinich said that he and Edwards "both share an optimism…a kind of hope about what kind of country we can have." But Edwards voted for the war, which in Kucinich's eyes is the root of all evil in the Democratic Party. Nor does Edwards have a plan to bring U.S troops home, the cornerstone of Kucinich's candidacy.

So why go with him and not the anti-war Dean? The Kucinich camp has felt for a long time that Dean hasn't reached out to their supporters sufficiently, and that Dean actually alienated them by disbursing fliers and other literature claiming that Dean is the only candidate to have opposed the war from the beginning. In Kucinich's eyes, to imply that he voted for the war by lumping him in with the other candidates is the worst insult one could make. And the Dean campaign's justification that Kucinich isn't one of the candidates Dean is referring to-meaning he doesn't see Kucinich as competition-only makes matters worse.

It's difficult to say how the Edwards arrangement worked out in the end, but Kucinich's Iowa political director John Friedrich told ABC News he knows for a fact that Kucinich supporters helped Edwards at various caucus sites throughout the state.

NEW YORK, Jan. 11 —Outside the convention center last night was where one found the true believers. Aboard what they call the "Magic Bus," a group of supporters from various states had pooled their resources to create what one of them called "an expression of our creativity and our politics." Equipped with bunk beds, a small kitchen and only one heater to brave the freezing temperatures, the group takes such loving care of the tattered, Love Bug-era vehicle that they shooed Congressional Quarterly columnist Craig Crawford off the premises when he started to light up a cigarette. But perhaps it's just a particular kind of smoke the travelers dislike --