Kucinich says he's the one

Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich speaks to the Globe editorial board. At left is his wife Elizabeth Harper Kucinich.
(Mark Wilson/Globe Staff)

Dennis Kucinich likened himself to both FDR and Seabiscuit -- Franklin D. Roosevelt in proposing a 21st century New Deal and the legendary race horse in claiming that he'll come from way behind and win the Democratic nomination.

In an appearance this morning before the Globe editorial board, the Ohio congressman said as president he would create a new version of the 1930s Works Progress Administration to put Americans to work to fix the nation's crumbling infrastructure and to build a more environmentally friendly energy system.

Kucinich also predicted that once voters realize that they agree with him on most issues, his candidacy -- languishing well behind Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards -- will jump to the front of the pack by the final turn.

"My support's beginning to grow," he said. "This election is not over. There's time for people to understand they have a real choice....When people discover I'm their candidate, look out."

He also riffed on the staples of his campaign platform: that he is the only Democrat with a proposal for true universal health care, the only one who opposed the Iraq war from the beginning, and the only one with the independence to bring sweeping change to domestic and foreign policy.

Kucinich called the war in Iraq "a monstrous crime" committed by the Bush administration, citing what he said were hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties and arguing that the decision to invade was based on lies. He called for an immediate end to the US "occupation" and for a multinational peacekeeping force to help stabilize the country.

But there was one subject Kucinich declined to address: A challenge for his congressional seat from Rosemary Palmer, an antiwar activist who lost a son in Iraq. A former Kucinich supporter, she criticizes him for running for president a second time instead of using his seat to end the war.

"Let me be clear," he said tersely. "I'm here to talk about my candidacy for president."