Disclaimer: Kudos to BlackMage's excellent "Revolutionaries - A Queensland TL" https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=103902for giving me the inspiration to do this. Kudos to him for making Mark Vass available.
Crash on or Crash Through
Dennis Kucinich - Mayor, Congressman, Vice-President. Revolutionary?
Prologue
Dennis Kucinich must rank as one of the most divisive and discussed Vice-Presidents in American history. He challenged the essential assumptions that people have made about political candidacy: That (1) candidates must move to the 'centre' to be electable; that (2) 'ultra-liberals' within the Democratic party were marginalized and that (3) a small protest campaign could not be viable in winning lasting political influence.
Causes and Caucuses
We cannot examine Dennis Kucinich without examining the factors that contributed to his meteoric rise from the political fringes to mainstream candidacy:
The first was his respectable showing in the 2004 and 2008 Democratic primaries and the effects they had further down the line.
The 2004 Democratic Primary and the 2004 Presidential Election
Kucinich's shock victory in the 2004 New Hampshire Primary -this was the direct result of disillusioned Dean Supporters flocking to Kucinich after Dean's disastrous showing in the Iowa Primary and subsequent decision to drop out of the campaign. Kucinich's victory in the New Iowa primary would propel Kucinich to double-digit figures generating enough momentum to allow Kucinich to finish in a respectable 3rd place winning 10.19% of the total votes cast and 102 delegates, having managed to win New Hampshire, Oregon and Hawaii. Kucinich was unusual in campaigning until July 1, in an effort to 'influence the direction of the Democratic Party.' Although his supporters contend that this was a valid and fair tactic, his continued campaign gave the impression of a divided and factionalized party which led to Kucinich being ruled out of the VP selection process for 2004. John Edwards, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee opted for John Kerry who had come second in an effort to unify the party.
The stage had been set for an extremely tight contest between ”George, the 3 Johns and Ralph” which was ultimately decided once more by a resurgent Green Party and Ralph Nader. President George Bush had opted to choose John McCain, his bitter rival in 2000 after rumours about negotiations between the Edwards-McCain camps and Kucinich’s extended campaigning raised the issue of Party Unity as a campaign theme. The race remained a tight one throughout, with a smaller than normal number of ‘undecided’ ultimately deciding the election, it would be a mistake to see the campaign as between two diametrical opposites, despite the widespread polarization that the 2004 Election caused, both major parties attempted to cast themselves as ‘moderates’ and hug the illusive ‘centre’ in an effort to win the small number of undecided. However, amidst all the frenzy of campaigning and the massive efforts on both sides in GOTV efforts, the election would once more decided by the Green Party of the United States of America, in a rerun of history in Florida with the map remaining the same as it did just 4 years ago.{1} The lesson, apparently lost 4 years earlier was made stark clear by the lack of ambiguity about the result, Bush had won 48%, Edwards 46% with the Green Party managing 6% of the vote. The lesson was the Democrats could not ignore their ‘ultra-liberal’ wing.
This factor, was not lost on Dennis Kucinich, regarded by many after his 2004 attempt to gain the nomination as the mainstream ultra-liberal icon for the Democratic Party, and indeed America. His decision to enter the 2008 Democratic nomination would be guided by a single-minded drive to win the Presidential nomination. But would willpower be enough alone to defeat the Clinton Machine after being annointed by the 2004 Front-runners Edwards and Kerry who both declined to run citing "family commitments." Could the emergence of a charismatic African American - a certain, Barrack Hussein Obama, attempting also to run an insurgency campaign crowd out his campaign?
The next update will deal with the 2008 Democratic Nomination and the emergence of Mark Vass.
(Does anyone know a good website for making your own presidential election American maps quickly?)
Crash on or Crash Through
Dennis Kucinich - Mayor, Congressman, Vice-President. Revolutionary?
Prologue
Dennis Kucinich must rank as one of the most divisive and discussed Vice-Presidents in American history. He challenged the essential assumptions that people have made about political candidacy: That (1) candidates must move to the 'centre' to be electable; that (2) 'ultra-liberals' within the Democratic party were marginalized and that (3) a small protest campaign could not be viable in winning lasting political influence.
Causes and Caucuses
We cannot examine Dennis Kucinich without examining the factors that contributed to his meteoric rise from the political fringes to mainstream candidacy:
The first was his respectable showing in the 2004 and 2008 Democratic primaries and the effects they had further down the line.
The 2004 Democratic Primary and the 2004 Presidential Election
Kucinich's shock victory in the 2004 New Hampshire Primary -this was the direct result of disillusioned Dean Supporters flocking to Kucinich after Dean's disastrous showing in the Iowa Primary and subsequent decision to drop out of the campaign. Kucinich's victory in the New Iowa primary would propel Kucinich to double-digit figures generating enough momentum to allow Kucinich to finish in a respectable 3rd place winning 10.19% of the total votes cast and 102 delegates, having managed to win New Hampshire, Oregon and Hawaii. Kucinich was unusual in campaigning until July 1, in an effort to 'influence the direction of the Democratic Party.' Although his supporters contend that this was a valid and fair tactic, his continued campaign gave the impression of a divided and factionalized party which led to Kucinich being ruled out of the VP selection process for 2004. John Edwards, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee opted for John Kerry who had come second in an effort to unify the party.
The stage had been set for an extremely tight contest between ”George, the 3 Johns and Ralph” which was ultimately decided once more by a resurgent Green Party and Ralph Nader. President George Bush had opted to choose John McCain, his bitter rival in 2000 after rumours about negotiations between the Edwards-McCain camps and Kucinich’s extended campaigning raised the issue of Party Unity as a campaign theme. The race remained a tight one throughout, with a smaller than normal number of ‘undecided’ ultimately deciding the election, it would be a mistake to see the campaign as between two diametrical opposites, despite the widespread polarization that the 2004 Election caused, both major parties attempted to cast themselves as ‘moderates’ and hug the illusive ‘centre’ in an effort to win the small number of undecided. However, amidst all the frenzy of campaigning and the massive efforts on both sides in GOTV efforts, the election would once more decided by the Green Party of the United States of America, in a rerun of history in Florida with the map remaining the same as it did just 4 years ago.{1} The lesson, apparently lost 4 years earlier was made stark clear by the lack of ambiguity about the result, Bush had won 48%, Edwards 46% with the Green Party managing 6% of the vote. The lesson was the Democrats could not ignore their ‘ultra-liberal’ wing.
This factor, was not lost on Dennis Kucinich, regarded by many after his 2004 attempt to gain the nomination as the mainstream ultra-liberal icon for the Democratic Party, and indeed America. His decision to enter the 2008 Democratic nomination would be guided by a single-minded drive to win the Presidential nomination. But would willpower be enough alone to defeat the Clinton Machine after being annointed by the 2004 Front-runners Edwards and Kerry who both declined to run citing "family commitments." Could the emergence of a charismatic African American - a certain, Barrack Hussein Obama, attempting also to run an insurgency campaign crowd out his campaign?
The next update will deal with the 2008 Democratic Nomination and the emergence of Mark Vass.
(Does anyone know a good website for making your own presidential election American maps quickly?)