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Posted: January 22, 2008 5:57 PM
Kucinich Sees Little Gain from Barrage of Legal Battles
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Rep. Dennis Kucinich has stayed in the running for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination despite weak showings in the primaries and several recent legal battles.

While he did pick up an endorsement from the Mexican American Political Association, as reported by BusinessWire.com, his showing in national and state polls has rarely touched 5 percent.

The candidate suffered another setback when he was excluded from yet another Democratic primary debate, this time by CNN, the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s politics blog reported Monday. In response, his campaign filed a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission accusing CNN of “‘arbitrarily establishing criteria’” for Monday evening’s debate.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court laid down the last word in Kucinich’s ongoing fight with the Texas Democratic Party, the AP reported. Kucinich had sued the party over the loyalty oath it required of all candidates who wished to appear on its ballots, an oath promising to “fully support” the eventual winner of the nomination. Kucinich refused to take the oath, and the party responded by not including his name on the ballot.

The Supreme Court declined to accept the case, effectively affirming U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel’s ruling in favor of the Texas Democratic Party.

Finally, Kucinich has vowed to investigate allegations of voter fraud in the New Hampshire primary earlier this month. According to The Union Leader, Kucinich has put up $25,000 of his own campaign funds toward a full recount. At 24 cents per ballot plus an additional $2,000 fee, the cost runs to $67,600 for the Democratic primary. A full recount would cost almost $130,000.

On Tuesday, the Nashua Telegraph reported that discrepancies were found, but they were not significant enough to affect original percentage reports.