Did You Know...

In January, I mentioned Dennis Kucinich’s call to DHS to fend off an aggressive challenger who questioned his prolonged absences from his home district.

DHS can’t protect him now. It’s do-or-die tonight:

Dennis Kucinich, the liberal Ohio politician who made two failed White House campaigns, fought Tuesday in the Democratic primary to keep his seat against the toughest, best-financed challenger in his 12-year congressional career.

Although the presidential primary commands most of the nation’s attention, Kucinich’s race was the best known congressional contest on ballots in Ohio and Texas.

Other races included two veterans of the Iraq war seeking congressional nominations in Ohio and a battle for the nomination to challenge Sen. John Cornyn in Texas. Voters in one Vermont community were considering whether to call for the arrest of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

For years, the 61-year-old Kucinich has won re-election by margins of up to 75 percent in a reliably Democratic, Cleveland-area district.

But after sensing early that Joe Cimperman was a formidable opponent, Kucinich abandoned his presidential campaign on Jan. 25, months earlier in the race than he did in 2004, when he also was polling in low one-digit numbers.

Cimperman, a Cleveland City Council member and former Kucinich admirer, raised nearly $500,000 and landed high-profile endorsements from the mayor and the city’s daily newspaper.

“Mr. Kucinich is not a congressman. He’s a showman,” said Cimperman, 37, who has belittled Kucinich’s Hollywood ties and criticized congressional votes Kucinich missed during his presidential campaigns.

***
Update: Denny K survives.