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Should Iowa and New Hampshire stay at the head of the primary schedule? |Dennis Kucinich | Big Think
Posted
April 24, 2012
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128
April 24, 2012
128
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1:14Now PlayingShould Iowa and New Hampshire stay at the head of the primary schedule?
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There should be no guarantees that a state should keep their status if they exclude candidates from debates, Dennis Kucinich says.
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Dennis Kucinich:
Dennis Kucinich is a Democratic congressman and presidential also-ran. Kucinich graduated from Case Western Reserve University in 1973 with a BA and an MA in speech and communication. He began his political career early: he was elected to the Cleveland City Council at 23, and became mayor in 1977 at the age of 31. After spending much of the 1980's out of government, Kucinich was elected to Congress in 1996; he is currently in his sixth term. In Congress, Kucinich has a staunchly liberal and anti-war record. He is a strong advocate of national health care, clean energy, and an immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. Kucinich even brought articles of impeachment against Vice-President Dick Cheney, though the bill was killed before it could reach the House floor. Kucinich first ran for president in 2004; he ran again in 2008. In 2003, he received the Gandhi Peace Award, bestowed by the Quaker organization Promoting Enduring Peace. Kucinich is the author of a memoir, The Courage to Survive, as well as a collection of speeches, A Prayer for America.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Question: Should Iowa and New Hampshire stay at the head of the primary schedule?
Dennis Kucinich: I absolutely believe that New Hampshire should be at the front of the primary schedule. New Hampshire has been a very open process. Iowa is different. Iowa has become so professionalized that the state democratic party there is trying to put a fix in. So I reject that kind of approach, and I think that it’s really important that New Hampshire have the chance to stay the first primary. But I think that . . . that the process in Iowa needs to be looked at again, and maybe Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus standing should be reconsidered. I don’t think that any state should be guaranteed that they keep their status as first unless they actually make efforts to be open. And Iowa hasn’t done that. It’s excluded people from debates. It’s . . . it’s taken efforts to exclude candidates from various forums. I don’t think that that should be permitted in someone . . . in some state that has a first status.
Recorded on: 10/19/07
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