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Posted: September 20, 2007 5:30 PM
Aloha State Welcomes Kucinich, But Iowa Doesn't
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Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, traveled to the Hawaiian Islands last weekend on a four-day campaign tour but returned to the mainland only to find that he would not be participating in an Iowa forum Thursday night.

The Democratic forum, sponsored by the AARP, and Iowa Public Television, is geared toward matters important to seniors, including health care and financial security.

Kucinich, along with former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel, did not meet the forum’s requirement of having active campaigns in Iowa.

In response, Kucinich called the race in Iowa a “rigged game.”

“How can AARP and Iowa Public Television claim they are committed to educating and informing the voters of Iowa on the Number One domestic issue in this campaign when they deny a voice to the only candidate who is leading the effort to bring real reform to the health care system by ending the control of for-profit insurance and pharmaceutical companies? Since the AARP’s own insurance sales interests would be affected by HR 676, serious questions must be raised about their decision to deny me a place on the platform,” the congressman said in a release.

Kucinich was fresh off his weekend campaign trip to Hawaii, where he touted his message of peace.

“The aloha spirit involves a gentleness, a desire for harmony with nature, a desire for peace, and that’s what I embody,” he said, as reported by the Honolulu Advertiser.

“Kucinich, whose early and consistent opposition to the Iraq war has given him a passionate following among many on the left, is the only presidential candidate to campaign in the Islands this year,” the Advertiser reported.

This weekend, his campaign events include holding a vegan breakfast and attending a reggae festival in San Luis Obispo, Calif., on Saturday.

Kucinich also announced the appointment of Army combat veteran Mike Klein as his campaign manager. “Mike is a strong leader who combines exceptional organizational and management skills with keen political insights and instincts,” the congressman said of the West Point Graduate, according to Earthtimes.org.