As a registered Independent in Florida, I don’t get to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primaries — not that it would mean anything if I could. But if I could it would mean that I would at least have the opportunity of voting for Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich before his campaign gets ground to dust by the Clinton-Obama-Edwards juggernaut. Not that I necessarily would, but I might could, as they say up in North Carolina.
But even if Kucinich gets the snot kicked out of him in the primary, I might still get to vote for him in a third-party bid. National Journal columnist Craig Crawford sees a potentially potent third-party ticket of Kucinich and Republican presidential candidate Texas Rep. Ron Paul. Crawford even gins up some hints from the candidates themselves:
Kucinich is not a fierce partisan for the Democratic Party: ‘I don’t buy into that stuff.’
“I hear that a lot, but I haven’t really thought about it,” the Ohio congressman said of talk about running with his House colleague from Texas. “I like Ron Paul. He’s a real patriot. He and I will be working together in a lot of circumstances.”
Kucinich added that he is not a fierce partisan for the Democratic Party. “I don’t buy into that stuff,” he said. And he noted that in many lopsided House votes he and Paul often stand together against their parties — sometimes by themselves. “Kucinich-Paul. You’ll find that on more than a few roll calls.”
Both men are party outsiders — Paul ran on the Libertarian ticket in 1988 — but they also have significant differences in beliefs, Crawford notes:
While Kucinich’s pro-government philosophy and Paul’s libertarian credo might not mix at all levels, they are both passionately against the war in Iraq and dedicated to restoring congressional power under the Constitution.
But what adds some credibility to the possibility is Crawford’s conclusion about the two scrappy outsiders:
Running together in an independent effort would garner a lot more attention than continuing their party bids long after others have locked up the nominations.
