Dennis Kucinich End Runs ABC Snub at Democratic Debate with Moyers Interview

Dennis Kucinich is again forced to work harder and smarter than the others in the Democratic lineup in order to get his word out. ABC has chosen to snub Rep. Kucinich and leave him out of the Saturday debate. Friday evening, Kucinich made an end run around this stiff arm by appearing in a 15 minute interview on PBS's Bill Moyers' Journal.

Moyers focused many of his questions on the issue of the media's lack of attention to the Kucinich campaign. Kucinich met the challenge by highlighting his contrasts to the positions of many of the other Democratic candidates on the war in Iraq, NAFTA, relations with China and other areas. He went as far as to say that Clinton, Obama, and Edwards are basically the same on all major issues; that the only differences were stylistic.

This stark contrast is recognized and appreciated by those who take part in online polling, regularly ranking him towards the top of the field. This has yet to translate into large donations or broad media coverage, but does not deter the candidate from Ohio. Declaring himself "the Democrat's Democrat," Kucinich intends to fight for every vote possible in New Hampshire and beyond. The campaign has filed an emergency complaint with the FCC to be included in the Saturday debate. As noted on his website, Kucinich "is the only Democratic presidential candidate who has qualified for Federal matching funds who is being excluded by ABC."

This is not the first debate that the candidate has had to miss. The Des Moines Register sponsored a debate to which Kucinich was not invited, as well. This contributed to his strategy to pass by the Iowa caucuses and focus more heavily on the upcoming New Hampshire primary.

The Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) conducted a poll recently that put Rep. Kucinich on top of all the current candidates. Despite this hefty win, the PDA chose to endorse John Edwards for President in 2008. Cited on its web page as a reason is that "it must throw its support behind a candidate with a reasonable chance of winning." Bill Moyers brings this up in the Friday interview with Kucinich.