The Honorable Dennis John Kucinich
United States House of Representatives
2445 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Kucinich,
Please accept my condolences for your recent defeat in Ohio's 9th Congressional District Democratic Primary. At a time when Congress is slightly less popular among Americans than quasi-medieval Iran or the curious dungeon of North Korea, your exile from the federal legislature is indeed most tragic. That bubbling cauldron of vote-hustlers, cheap salesmen, and career-chasing unoriginals won't be the same without you or your oddly clean brand of politics.
I've followed your career for many years and have the utmost admiration for your long track-record of innovative policy proposals and aggressive style. It takes guts to challenge the entire power structure of Cleveland as a 31-year-old mayor at the height of a local mob war. Or to fire a popular, but insubordinate, police chief on live television. Even after just narrowly surviving the city's first ever recall election less than a year into your term, and a failed assassination attempt two months later, you refused to sell out. The deliberate sabotage of city finances by Cleveland Trust in retaliation for your refusal to privatize Municipal Light finally cost you your job, but the humble townsfolk eventually came to their senses and sent you to Congress in 1996.
Not bad for a guy born into an impoverished family of nine. Most would've cut a shady deal early on, grinned like a Ken doll, and ridden a wave of dirty money all the way to higher office. But you actually stuck to your principles, a dangerous gambit in electoral politics, as you did when you rallied Congress to impeach Bush and Cheney in the twilight years of their crumbling administration.
You remind me of another Cleveland populist, former Mayor Tom L. Johnson, immortalized as "the best Mayor of the best-governed city in the United States" by legendary muckraker Lincoln Steffens. Like you, Johnson fought for public utilities and the abolition of corruption and monopoly privilege. He also shared your strong idealistic sensibility in the economic sphere--in his case the single-tax philosophy of Henry George, in yours the huge and difficult issue of authentic monetary reform. But for all of his accomplishments local elites were eventually able to destroy Johnson's career, and he died a physical wreck at the age of 56. You are 65, and as far as I can tell far from broken--in fact, you seem healthier than most people half your age--but unfortunately you've been done in by the same nexus of big money and scheming party operatives that brought down your illustrious mayoral forebear.
The stink of the Republican plot to eliminate your home district and force you into a primary contest with another sitting Democrat is too close for comfort. A relative of mine, a honcho in the Ohio GOP who shall go nameless, lamentably helped to bring that about. Yet I can't seem to blame said person any more than I can blame a baboon for its foul mannerisms: the actions of the beast are brutish and unbecoming, but hopelessly innate to its crude, rank nature.
Besides, the Democrats had a hand in this too. Even before the Republican landslide of 1994, the Democratic Congress passed the NAFTA deindustrialization act and as of 2007 the United States has since lost a net 3,654,000 manufacturing jobs, laying waste to organized labor, particularly in your native Midwest. In Ohio union representation has declined by about a third, a fairly grim trend for the traditional foundation of both your party and the American Dream. Without an organizational counterweight to balance the power of big business, money will always dominate the political process at the expense of people-powered candidates such as yourself.
For these reasons and more I tossed you some coin during the final stages of your last epic battle. As it turns out this gesture was insufficient, and the sting of defeat was further compounded by the sad fact that your Democratic opponent, not you, will get to go on to trounce and humiliate the Republican in the general election. A rust-belt cage match between the populist Kucinich and the odious "Joe the Plumber" (whose name isn't Joe and who isn't a licensed plumber) would have been a great deal more exciting than one involving the liberal-ish Marcy Kaptur of Patriot Act notoriety.
Which brings us to the present. Here in Washington state, chatter persists in suggesting that you still might relocate from Ohio to run for Congress in one of our ten districts. As a born-and-raised Washingtonian, I can tell you that such a move is entirely feasible. But before you make a final decision, a thorough understanding of the region is imperative.
Three of our districts are lacking an incumbent this election cycle. All three are on the west side of the Cascades, where the bulk of the population lives and which tilts Democratic. This is your opening. 2012 should be a good year for Democrats as the young and liberal-minded will be out in force to a) re-elect Obama and b) legalize pot, which will be on the ballot this fall as a statewide initiative. Like other western states, we have a heavy independent streak with a strong libertarian bent, in part because the people of Washington are much less religiously-oriented on average than the rest of the country. This means social wedge issues aren't as motivating to right-leaning voters as simple leave-me-alone, anti-tax rhetoric of the Ron Paul variety.
Combine this with the fact that the proportion of voters who consider themselves "independent" bounces around from 45% to 55%, depending on the poll. This is substantially larger than the share affiliated with either of the two major parties, though Democrats are slightly more numerous than Republicans. Most of our independents support marriage equality and legalizing marijuana, but disapprove of the job Obama is doing as president. Gun control tends to be a losing issue while union density is about 30% higher here than in Ohio.
My point in bringing all this up is to emphasize that if you decide to run, connecting with the voters on a personal level is far more important than being a stock Democrat on the same ticket as the president. We trend idiosyncratic left-libertarian, not textbook liberal.
Now back to those three open districts, if I may:
The 10th District is newly created, covering the southern portion of Puget Sound. You can basically divide it into two halves: Thurston County to the west and Pierce County to the east. Thurston, which includes the state capitol of Olympia and that hotbed of tempeh and yoga known as the Evergreen State College, would fit you pretty well. Idealistic college students would undoubtedly flock to your campaign early on, with the more cautious state worker contingent following suit after a victory in the primary. Obama won Thurston by 11 points over Clinton in 2008, signifying a fairly deep anti-war sentiment.
Further along the I-5 corridor in Pierce County, the 10th also includes Fort Lewis-McChord Air Force Base and the suburbs around Tacoma. Clinton beat Obama there by 5 points. Your experience with the Reagan Democrats of Cleveland would come in handy this neck of the woods: think Hubert Humphrey, hardhats, guns and butter, etc, etc. You'd be up against Denny Heck in the primary, an experienced former Majority Leader of the Washington State Senate with a beefy résumé, but who lost his 2010 race for Congress in what many feel was an uninspiring campaign.
The 6th District is the entire Olympic Peninsula plus the mid-Puget Sound and part of Tacoma proper. The people here are of a laid-back variety accustomed to a constant grey drizzle who tend to vote Democratic, but you'd have to balance your message between depressed lumber towns, blue-collar Tacoma, the coastal tourism-retirement economy, and the military-industrial complex of Bremerton with its massive Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
Outgoing Democratic Congressman Norm Dicks, hailing from Bremerton, has been traditionally hawkish on foreign policy, and his 38-year-old heir-apparent Derek Kilmer, who represents Bremerton in the State Senate, makes no mention of foreign policy on his website. This is interesting. Military-oriented Bremerton is moderately Democratic with a population of 38,670 but the newly redistricted 6th District now also includes the liberal bastion of Bainbridge Island, which has a population of 23,025. Bainbridge voted for Obama over Clinton 67.8% to 29.7%, and then voted for Obama over McCain 77.79% to 20.79%. The artsy seaside community of Port Townsend, population 9,113, also went for Obama over Clinton and would be naturally more amenable to your candidacy than the more conservative Kilmer. He's formidable, but if you emphasize the anti-war message in Bainbridge, fair trade in the lumber towns, labor unions in Tacoma, and environmental stewardship along the coasts you could probably make this work.
The 1st District is more problematic. As most political observers know, liberals are attracted to water, particularly salt water, but after redistricting the 1st now stretches up to the Canadian border without much coastline included. It mostly consists of the western foothills of the northern Cascades, without the benefit of the nearby college town of Bellingham or Boeing-dominated blue-collar Everett. There are two Democratic-leaning population centers on its southern end, Kirkland and Redmond, both upscale fiefdoms of Microsoft and the software industry. One of the commissioners who drew its boundaries says the 1st "may be the most evenly divided congressional district in the United States of America."
Your advantage would be the crowded field. Six candidates are running in the Democratic primary, and the two being taken the most seriously have never held elected office. In fact, they have a perfect record of failure in their runs for Congress. The presumed Republican nominee, John Koster, is to the right of Attila the Hun and rumored to have anger management problems. One angle might be to call him a socialist and get him on record losing his marbles at a public forum.
But judging by your upcoming speaking engagement at Highline Community College in Des Moines, the 9th District also seems to interest you, even though it's not an open seat. This is where I've been registered to vote since the age of 18. It stretches south to the Port of Tacoma, not far from Hilltop, where Army Rangers waged a gun battle with drug gangs for control of the neighborhood when I was 7. From there the 9th follows sprawling development northwest to a chunk of Seattle and northeast to the quiet suburb of Bellevue. Between is Lake Washington, where the posh citadel of Mercer Island floats in grandeur.
While taking on eight-term Congressman Adam Smith of Tacoma would entail all kinds of difficulties, victory in the 9th is possible. For one, the newly redrawn district excludes most of his Pierce County power base, and any inroads he could make into Seattle might be blocked by Bruce Harrell, who is considering entering the primary. Harrell is a two-term Seattle City Council member and establishment centrist hailing from the Mount Baker neighborhood, now part of the 9th District. This leaves Bellevue, with its population of 122,363, as virgin territory where you could come out ahead in a three-way race. With the exception of sports events, the typical Bellevue resident wants as little to do with Tacoma or Seattle as possible, sternly rebuking their urban vibrations as a threat to the general tranquility.
As for his record, Adam Smith is quite vulnerable. He voted in favor of invading Iraq, warrantless surveillance, and the Patriot Act, so going after him as a "Bush Democrat" should work fairly well north of Pierce, particularly in Seattle. In Bellevue, however, be sure to hammer him on quality of life issues. People who live there tend to do so for the amenities: comfortable homes, schools, parks, and a total absence of litter. So shine a light on his votes for offshore oil drilling (pollution!), bailing out banks while voting against relief for homeowners (my house!), and various pork-barrel projects (corruption! crime! sleaze!).
Any effort towards capturing the 9th (or 1st or 6th or 10th) District will require a comprehensive field operation. The large Seattle peace and justice movement would quite naturally provide the necessary boots-on-the-ground for a phone bank and neighborhood canvassing wherever you decide to run. For the air war just summon a few of your big-name celebrity friends to hold a glitzy fundraiser and proceed to swamp your opponents with TV and radio spots.
But you better make a move soon. You're already on track to miss "Beer as Art" this Sunday, which would have gone a long way towards establishing you as a man of the people. If you're worried about being called a "carpetbagger," keep in mind that a third of Washingtonians weren't born here either, so they'll probably understand that the best man for the job has to occasionally be imported.
In any case it's up to you. Just remember that the absolute prerequisite for winning over the locals is a sense of humor. Jazz legend Vic Meyers was our Lieutenant Governor for 20 years and would run for office dressed as Mahatma Gandhi with a rented goat alongside him. Before that he campaigned for mayor in Prohibition-era Seattle in a beer wagon while promising to fix the budget by adding cocktail waitresses to the streetcars.
Marion Zioncheck represented the 1st District in Congress and would dance in water fountains like a raving madman, at one point dumping a truckload of manure on J. Edgar Hoover's front door for no other reason than the simple fact that he deserved it.
And folksinger Ivar Haglund used to stage wrestling matches in front of his chowder hall on the Seattle waterfront between a dead octopus and "Two-Ton Tony" Galento and became so revered that when he ran for Port Commissioner as a joke, he won by accident.
This is my state, or at least a part of it. You're welcome to take your esteemed career and move it hereabouts if you wish, but I'm glad we got to review the human terrain a little before you make a final decision. Spring is coming and change is in the air, and your surprise addition to the psychic landscape would be a most fitting affirmation of the turning of the seasons. Thank you for all you've accomplished thus far, and best of luck on the days ahead.
Sincerely yours,
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