by Rachael Joseph

Created on: August 26, 2009

Hardly a newcomer to the democratic political scene, Dennis J. Kucinich was the youngest mayor of a major city, Cleveland, Ohio, at thirty one years old. Kucinich was born to lead the United states through our current economic situation, he knows it by personal experience. He grew up in Cleveland as the youngest of seven children and by the time Dennis was 17 years old, the family had lived in 21 different places, including the family car. His parents even had to drop he and a few siblings off at an orphanage for a bit over a year because they simply couldn't afford them. Dennis Kucinich knows what it's like to grow up without health care and when he was elected to United States Congress, he and Rep. John Conyers co-authored the bill HR-676, otherwise known as single-payer health care where the "payer" is the government, or "Medicare for all".

Rep. Dennis Kucinich was a Democratic Presidential Primary contender in 2004 and 2008 and is passionate about many issues that matter to progressive democrats. Dennis has never been given equal time in debates and was even excluded in many 2008 debates (if you remember the private conversation between Clinton and Edwards caught on tape "Whispergate", saying they needed to get the less serious candidates out) by major networks because they were sponsored by major insurance companies, something single payer health care would fast put out of business.

Other issues Rep. Kucinich is passionate about is ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has never once cast a vote to go to war or to fund the war. He also introduced the Articles of Impeachment to attempt to impeach Vice President Cheney. He is a strong believer in union labor, worker's rights, the right of workers to have a safe work environment and fair wages. He wants to end NAFTA and the WTO to keep jobs for Americans and raise the minimum wage. Rep. Kucinich believes in re-educating America. He has sponsored a bill to give all children access to quality early childhood education programs and believes he can pass a bill to provide free college for all who are eligible to attend. As deeply as he cares about children, he cares about seniors. He stands against the privatization of social security and wants the eligibility age rolled back to 65 from where it currently stands at 67. Dennis has also co-sponsored Congressional legislation to establish an Office of Elder Justice which would prevent abuse, neglect and exploitation of the elderly.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich sees

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