nomination for president,

[00:04.72]four currently serve in Congress - two in the Senate,

[00:07.38]and two in the House of Representatives.

[00:09.58]One of them is Dennis Kucinich.

[00:11.66]the four-term congressman from Ohio is given little

[00:14.65]chance of winning the Democratic nomination,

[00:16.85]but his presence in the race has helped stir debate on issues

[00:20.45]ranging from Iraq and its effect on U.S.

[00:22.64]foreign policy to domestic issues such as health care and the economy.

[00:27.04]If one thing is true about Dennis Kucinich,

[00:29.59]it is that he is a fighter for causes he believes passionately in.

[00:33.08]In this respect,

[00:34.06]he may not be much different from other Democrats seeking

[00:36.65]their party's nomination to challengeGeorge Bush in 2004.

[00:40.14]However, Dennis Kucinich considers himself the candidate best able to

[00:44.35]represent the interests of lower and middle income Americans,

[00:48.49]the "working class" that has been the traditional base of the Democratic party.

[00:52.31]The domestic issues these segments of society are most

[00:55.37]concerned about are among his key campaign talking points.

[00:58.68]"I want to see our domestic agenda focused on here," he said.

[01:01.78]"So we can have the money that we need for education, tuition-free college,

[01:07.00]universal single-payer health care, universal pre-kindergarten,

[01:11.68]child care for all of our children age three, four and five.

[01:14.70]As president of the United States I'll help to provide

[01:18.01]peace and prosperity for this country."

[01:20.10]Dennis Kucinich grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, the oldest of seven children.

[01:24.38]His official biography notes that he and his family "lived in 21 places,

[01:29.06]including a couple of cars," by the time he was 17 years old.

[01:33.02]According to the accounts of many who knew him, he was determined to succeed.

[01:37.52]At 23 he was elected to the Cleveland City Council,

[01:40.69]and at 31, he was mayor of Cleveland, Ohio's second-largest city

[01:45.08]and one plagued by industrial job loss and decay.

[01:48.47]As remarkable as this was - Kucinich was the youngest

[01:51.89]person ever elected mayor of a major American city

[01:54.91]- that first step into big-city politics was marred by controversy.

[01:59.23]In a complicated story involving banks and the local power company,

[02:03.12]Cleveland was declared insolvent after then-Mayor Kucinich

[02:06.50]refused to sell the local power utility.

[02:09.02]In 1979, he was voted out of office after only one term and struggled

[02:13.70]for years to overcome public perceptions of incompetence.

[02:17.30]Although he drifted in the political wilderness through the 1980s,

[02:17.30]by the mid-1990s he was on a rebound,

[02:19.97]elected to the Ohio state Senate in 1994,

[02:22.88]and in 1996 to the U.S. House of Representatives.

[02:26.16]In Congress Mr. Kucinich became a key member of the "Progressive Caucus,"

[02:30.77]a collection of lawmakers supporting liberal political,

[02:33.25]social and economic causes,

[02:34.84]and also spoke out on key international human rights issues.

[02:39.48]Mr. Kucinich gained notoriety last year when he led opposition among mostly

[02:43.84]Democratic members of the House of Representatives to a resolution giving

[02:47.51]President Bush authority to launch a military strike on Iraq.

[02:51.00]"I'm letting you know that there is an advancing tide here of opposition,

[02:55.50]that it is reflecting what we know to be true,

[02:57.84]and that is that by and large,

[03:00.11]the American people oppose this war," he said.

[03:02.30]"And as we near towards a vote in a few days,

[03:02.38]the American people are going to be calling this House telling them 'vote no.'"

[03:06.09]But Mr. Kucinich was able to generate only 133 votes in the 435-member House

[03:11.89]against the Iraq war resolution, which also passed easily in the Senate.

[03:16.28]However, amid mounting U.S. and coalition casualties in Iraq,

[03:19.88]Mr. Kucinich has sharpened his criticism of the Bush administration's

[03:23.37]handling of Iraq and its policy of pre-emptive action in the war on terror.

[03:27.76]During a recent televised debate,

[03:29.85]Mr. Kucinich repeated his pledge that as president he would

[03:33.63]withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq while repairing what he says

[03:36.76]is damage to U.S. credibility with allies.

[03:40.07]"I will lead this nation in a new direction.

[03:42.67]A direction where we get away from unilateralism

[03:46.16]and get away from pre-emption," he said.

[03:48.14]"That new direction will strike a responsive chord in the world community.

[03:51.63]That is why the United Nations will follow the plan

[03:53.43]that I have which will enable the U.N.

[03:55.45]troops to come in and the U.S. troops to come home."

[03:59.15]Critics call Mr. Kucinich overly optimistic and na?ve.

[04:03.33]They cite as proof his proposals to create a new government "Department of Peace,"

[04:07.94]and his call for U.S. withdrawal from the World

[04:10.49]Trade Organization (WTO) and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

[04:14.09]In Congress earlier this year,

[04:16.07]Mr. Kucinich ran into fierce opposition over his attempts

[04:19.21]to introduce an amendment to force Vice President Dick Cheney

[04:22.19]to turn over telephone records relating to Iraq war planning.

[04:25.51]He was confronted by an angry Republican, Congressman Ray LaHood,

[04:29.00]who accused him of using Congress to advance his political objectives.

[04:32.31]"I believe it is an extension of his presidential campaign to try and

[04:37.57]besmirch the record of this administration,

[04:40.45]to besmirch the good name of the vice president," Mr. LaHood said.

[04:45.09]Unlike other Democratic candidates for the presidency,

[04:47.86]such as former Vermont Governor Howard Dean,

[04:50.17]Mr. Kucinich has not been the subject of intense media

[04:52.22]attention for comments made in the course of the campaign.

[04:55.24]The Ohio lawmaker has a platform calling for among other things,

[04:58.73]universal health care, job creation programs,

[05:01.54]and a proposal to repeal the "Patriot Act"

[05:04.31]passed by Congress after the September 11,

[05:06.91]2001 terrorist attacks.

[05:09.21]"We need to have economic platforms that put money back into people's pockets,

[05:14.61]and the social issues that are being used here as wedge issues that tend

[05:18.39]to divide people are really not worthy of this party," he said.

[05:21.02]"We need to bring this party together on economic issues."

[05:21.09]Although he has attracted support from a few wealthy contributors,

[05:23.90]Mr. Kucinich has relatively little money to finance his campaign.

[05:27.79]He routinely ranks at or near the bottom of the Democratic

[05:30.27]group of candidates in public preference polls.

[05:32.65]But it is very much like Dennis Kucinich,

[05:34.63]who started in politics at the age of 20, not to give up the fight.

[05:38.33]He is campaigning in states that have early Democratic "primaries,"

[05:42.04]and vows to remain a candidate all the way through to

[05:44.35]the Democratic convention in Boston next August,

[05:47.19]saying he considers this an obligation to those who have supported him.