- ALTOONA, Iowa (Reuters) -
Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, one of the strongest voices in Congress against
war in Iraq, said on Monday he would enter the race for the 2004 Democratic
presidential nomination.
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- Kucinich, co-leader of the Progressive Caucus that includes
the most liberal members of the House of Representatives, told a gathering
of Iowa labor leaders he would file papers on Tuesday to create a committee
to raise money for a presidential bid.
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- Stressing a populist economic agenda that includes universal
health care, repeal of the North American Free Trade Agreement and elimination
of President Bush's tax cuts, Kucinich said he would be a "people's
president."
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- He said Bush had failed to make the case for war with
Iraq. "This war is wrong," he told an Iowa AFL-CIO conference.
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- Former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, the first black
woman elected to the Senate but a loser in her 1998 re-election bid, also
plans to launch a presidential campaign committee on Tuesday, bringing
to eight the number of Democratic contenders vying for the right to challenge
Bush in 2004.
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- Kucinich and Moseley-Braun are long-shot entries in a
Democratic field that could expand even more, with Florida Sen. Bob Graham,
Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, former senator Gary Hart and retired
general Wesley Clark also pondering bids.
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- The 56-year-old Kucinich spent four controversial years
as mayor of Cleveland, presiding over the city's collapse into financial
ruin. He made a political comeback as an Ohio state senator and won election
to the U.S. House in 1996.
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- He is the only member of Congress in the race for president
to have voted against the resolution authorizing the use of military force
in Iraq. Graham, who is expected to enter the contest within the next few
weeks, also voted against it.
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- Kucinich has been a pro-labor representative and pledged
solidarity with the Iowa labor leaders gathered in a suburb of Des Moines
for the state's AFL-CIO legislative conference, saying he would preside
over a "people's White House."
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- While a long-shot to win the nomination, he hopes to
rally support from the Democratic Party's antiwar activists and push populist
issues that might otherwise be submerged on the campaign agenda.
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- He has already won praise from Ralph Nader, the Green
Party presidential candidate in 2000, who says the presidential field needs
a progressive candidate.
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