By J. Marcos Giraldi
Utah Democrats now have another candidate to choose from for the presidential primary elections of Utah.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich is already registered to be one of the options during the presidential primary elections sponsored by Utah Democratic Party.
Kucinich was born in Cleveland, Ohio and first came to national prominence in 1977 when he was elected mayor of Cleveland at age 31. He was the youngest person to lead a major city.
He has firmly opposed the war in Iraq and the foreign and domestic policy that the Bush administration has implemented.
“I am running for president to completely change the direction of U.S. foreign and domestic policy,” Kuchinich said in a speech. “I plan to cut the bloated Pentagon budget by 15 percent and use the money for universal pre-school.”
Kucinich called the Bush administration to change the approach to international policy direction and to reach out to the world through the United Nations.
“Let me say it clearly: It is time to bring the troops home, it is time to get the UN in and the U.S. out of Iraq,” he said.
He also said the administration and the Republicans in Congress have turned their backs on the students of America by not fulfilling what they promised before to do for them.
“The President”s plan for education reform has become nothing more than an unfunded mandate,” he said. “True educational reform will come when we invest our time and resources in providing students with better paid and highly qualified teachers.”
Sarah Grant, a volunteer for Kucinich”s campaign and Utah State University student, said they are trying to make people more aware of Kucinich and the Democrats.
“People just don”t know, they don”t really understand that the Democrats are good also,” she said.
Grant invited BYU students to learn more about Kucinich and get more involved in politics. She said she believes that once people find out more about Kucinich they will come to realize that he is a good person.
“He is an amazing person,” Grant said. “I know in my heart that he speaks the truth and he wants peace in Iraq, he wants to get our soldiers out of Iraq and stop war.”
A significant group of Utah Democrats supports Kucinich and has offered to volunteer to his campaign. Many of his supporters are those who are strongly opposed to the war in Iraq as well as feminists.
Kucinich supporters met in Salt Lake City for a fundraising dinner Jan 11. The candidate sent a personal message via videotape to all his supporters.
The presidential primaries for Utah Democrats will be the upcoming Feb. 24 and Grant said they expect to have a large number of voters for Kucinich.
