On Friday, those smart alecks at the New York Observer
reported, “Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich are both
well-positioned for wins in next week’s Texas and Ohio primaries.”
The story ran under the headline “Kucinich and Paul Lead in Ohio,
Texas.”
Both maverick congressmen had abandoned the presidential
campaign trail to try and save their House seats. Kucinich ended
his longshot bid for the Democratic nomination in January, although
his name remained on Ohio’s primary ballot for both races. Paul is
still running for the Republican nomination, but told his
supporters last month that he was going to cut back and devote his
resources to his congressional primary instead.
So clearly neither Paul nor Kucinich was going to win a
presidential primary. And in fact they were both single-digit
performers where they were on the ballot Tuesday. The
Observer was predicting that despite early scares for both
incumbents, they would both be win their respective parties’ nods
for Congress handily. And this time, the smart alecks were proven
right.
Paul bested Republican primary challenger Chris Peden of
Friendswood by a better than 2 to 1 margin as we go to press. This
was despite early reports that Peden was leading Paul by a
double-digit margin. Around the time that story broke, Paul’s
congressional campaign seemed distinctly nervous about Peden’s
primary challenge.
Dennis Kucinich had even more reason to be worried. His main
opponent was popular Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, who
was running with the blessing of the city’s Mayor Frank Jackson.
North Olmstead Mayor Thomas O’Grady was also in the race.
After two losing presidential campaigns, Kucinich’s constituents
were starting to feel he was neglecting their bread-and-butter
concerns in order to promote a federal Department of Peace and try
to impeach the president. And unlike in 2004, he was increasingly
missing congressional votes. “Mr. Kucinich is not a congressman, he
is a showman,” Cimperman argued to the Associated Press.
Yet when the dust settled and the votes were counted, Kucinich
won more than 50 percent of the vote, a double-digit victory over
Cimperman. Kucinich was helped by the multi-candidate field, which
split the anti-incumbent vote. But even so, he pulled out an
absolute majority, suggesting Cimperman wouldn’t have had an easy
time taking him on in a one-on-one fight.
AT FIRST GLANCE, Paul and Kucinich seem like the odd couple. Paul
is a Texas Republican who is considered far right. Kucinich is a
Democrat from northeast Ohio who is frequently described as far
left. Paul is a libertarian devotee of the free-market Austrian
school of economics. Kucinich is just a few steps to the right of
socialism. Kucinich flip-flopped on life while the ob-gyn Paul
maintained that he never saw a medically necessary abortion.
But this isn’t the first time they’ve been paired together. At
an American Spectator Newsmaker Breakfast last year, Paul
named Kucinich as the Democratic presidential candidate he was
closest to. Kucinich’s wife has said her husband would have
considered Paul as a possible running mate.
What draws them together is their shared opposition to the war
in Iraq: the two of them both support legislation aimed at ending
the war that command minority support even among congressional
Democrats. It is no exaggeration to call Kucinich and Paul two of
the most antiwar members of Congress.
It is exactly that antiwar position that made Paul so vulnerable
in the Republican primary. Antiwar Republicans are an endangered
species. Paul is one of just two Republicans left in Congress who
voted against the original resolution authorizing the use of force.
Three Republicans who voted against the war — Lincoln Chafee, John
Hostettler, and Jim Leach — lost reelection bids in 2006.
Congressman Wayne Gilchrest was defeated in Maryland’s GOP primary
last month in large part due to his antiwar views.
Paul’s presidential campaign showcased his opposition to the war
to an extent that left many in his conservative district — it went
heavily for George W. Bush in 2004 — scratching their heads.
Neither Paul nor Kucinich went very far in the presidential
primaries (although Paul did finish ahead of Rudy Giuliani and Fred
Thompson in some early contests). Voters tend not to like it when
their congressman launches a quixotic bid for the White House. Such
a campaign helped cost Bob Dornan his House seat in 1996.
Not this time, however. Reason magazine’s Dave Weigel
worried
the next Congress will be a gadfly-free zone. Whatever else their
primary victories mean, neither party’s congressional leaders can
count on such conformity yet. John McCain clinched. Hillary Clinton
kept herself alive. Mike Huckabee dropped out.
But some people still like to keep their politics
interesting.
W. James Antle III is associate editor of The
American Spectator.
