Speculation: Is Dennis Kucinich Exploring McDermott’s Seat?
The Seattle Times reports that Dennis Kucinich is pondering re-rooting his career west of the Cascades. The Times says that Kucinich might run in the the yet to be drawn new WA 10th Congressional District or for Democratic U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee’s 1st District seat, since Jay is expected to run for governor.
I think neither of these rumors makes a lot of sense. We do not know where the tenth will go but none of the plans I have seen would create a district where where the diminutive and very partisan Kucinich would not be seen as a carpet bagger. Insley’s District, moreover, is rather conservative with people who work for the Navy in Everett, more “Reagan-Democrats” than Kucinich is likely to want, moderate or conservative Korean and Indian immigrants in Lynnwood and Redmond, and of course the techies of Bothell, Kirkland and Redmond. Local interests in that District do not at all jibe with electing a showboat.
A more interesting idea is that the relatively young and certainly effective Kucinich could be the heir to Jim McDermott. As I have written before, McDermottis a creature of Seattle’s labor union past and Vietnam protest eras. The silver haired McDermitt looks like a Congressman but has very little clout in DC.
The silver haired McDermott is also facing a new challenge . Wherever the 10th Distict ends up being (my bet it will be around Tacoma) Seattle itself may be split into two districts. There is a well financed effort to create a new District south of SODO, reflecting the obvious geographic split between the lower class, ethnic communities in Renton, SeaTac, White Center etc and the very affluent worlds iof Capital Hill, Queen Anne and .. especially .. the burgeoning pop;ulation of condoes and apartments in downtown Seattle. I oo not think a ruddy faced, white haired, 79 year old Irish man is a likely winner in a district intentionally created to attract minority candidates.
Jim is also out of touch with the affluent north-of Sodo world that represents the core of his District. In a recent faux pas, he authored an article (not peer reviewed, I assume) for the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. Jim extolled his ideas about primary care medicine but utterly neglected to mention that huge role the UW School of Medicine plays in primary care. Hardly a way to influence voter in his own district! 9see report here on TA).
Finally, … by sitting in a safe seat, McD has kept nascent opposition down. Likely local rivals like Ed Murry, Reueven Carlyle or even former mayor Nickles, need to stay out of any race until Jim gives them permission. Given McD’s ego, I would not be surprised if he did not see a Congressman Kucinich as an opportunity to pass on his own heritage.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again as long as I have to: You should spell-check AND PROOFREAD your posts, Steve. Your meaning is perceptible only after a good deal of scrutiny because there are so many typos and misspellings.
I know I have this problem.
Can you help by pointing out some errors?