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Dennis Kucinich represents the Heart & Soul of PDA

By Jeeni Criscenzo
June 19, 2007

This is the first in an ongoing series of articles on the Edwards and Kucinich campaigns.

It seems like a million years ago…. July 2004, following the Democratic Convention in Boston, when a thousand people filled a hall in Roxbury, Massachusetts, for the Progressive Democrats of America’s first convention and PDA was born. PDA was an outgrowth of the Kucinich for President 2004 campaign. Most of the people in that hall that day were Kucinich supporters, joined by Deaniacs. Seeing Dennis Kucinich and Howard Dean hold their hands up together in Roxbury signaled a spirit of cooperation, integrity and hope that continues on in PDA.

Three years later, PDA is growing and going strong. This past weekend, I was part of about 75 PDA leaders from California who met in San Luis Obispo to discuss the direction of PDA in our state and in the nation. As we gathered for a group photo at the end of our meetings, I thought, “Someday we are going to look back at this and realize that we were part of something so powerful that it completely changed the world – for the better.”

For many of us, myself included, the 2004 Presidential campaign was our first foray into politics. Dennis Kucinich’s candidacy in ’04 inspired many of us, again including me, to run for office and to stay involved in the political process in order to manifest the ideals of the Kucinich campaign in the Democratic Party. While many members of PDA are still looking over the smorgasbord of Democratic candidates running for president in ’08, the values and idealism of our original Kucinich roots remain. Of all the candidates running for President, only Dennis Kucinich is 100% in alignment with PDA priorities.

Now the 2008 Presidential campaign has begun, and this could be the most crucial election in the history of our nation. Rather than endorse any one candidate, PDA has invited the Kucinich and Edwards campaigns to blog on the PDA website. Over the coming weeks and months I’ll be writing about where Kucinich stands on those issues PDA has chosen as priorities. I’ll keep you up-to-date on what’s happening in the campaign and ways that you can get involved. And I’ll also be sharing with you some of my personal reasons for supporting Dennis Kucinich and the experiences I have while working on his Presidential campaign.

I hope that at this stage of the race you are still open to learning more about all of the candidates and not allowing the mass media to choose our next Democratic nominee. The stakes are too high this time—we must get it right and choose a leader who will turn this country around. Thanks for being a part of this historical opportunity.

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Join the PDA Inside the Democratic Party working group, contact Sherry Bohlen.

This series of articles will help define who PDA might endorse for President; however there are two candidates running for Congress right now. Jamie Eldridge in Massachusetts' Fifth Congressional District and Peter Mathews in California's Thirty-Seventh Congressional District already have a PDA endorsement. Please make a generous contribution to the PDA Political Action Fund today, and help send two more progressives to Congress. (Enter PAF in the Special Funds box.)