politics
Kucinich draws a line in Denver
AMES, Iowa -- They'd better find labor peace in Denver, or at least one of the Democratic presidential contenders will skip the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio is a long-shot in the race for the Democratic nomination, but he's already making contingency plans in case there are picket lines outside the Pepsi Center convention.
"If there's a picket line, I'll accept the nomination at the headquarters of the AFL-CIO in Denver," Kucinich told the Rocky Mountain News after addressing a teachers group in Ames, Iowa. "If the AFL-CIO isn't available, any Teamsters hall will do, since my dad was a truck driver."
Back Roads to the White House
Sure, Washington, D.C., has the U.S. Capitol, the White House, Ben's Chili Bowl and a whole bunch of other important American landmarks.
But every four years, the center of the political universe shifts to America's Heartland.
It all starts at a crossroads in Des Moines.
There, the westbound interstate leads toward Denver, home of the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The northbound interstate goes straight to Minneapolis-St. Paul, home of the 2008 Republican National Convention.
The candidates know they're not going to get anywhere -- certainly not to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue -- if they can't survive the potholes in downtown Des Moines, the speed bumps in Davenport and the mind-numbing drives past the farm fields between Cedar Rapids to Dubuque.
These are the back roads to the White House, scenic highways and byways often littered with broken-down bandwagons, crashed ambitions and campaigns that have simply run out of gas.
In Springfield, Ill., another dramatic statement
Scripps Howard News Service
Analysis
By M. CHARLES BAKST
The Providence Journal
When Democrat Barack Obama formally launches his 2008 presidential campaign on Feb. 10 in Springfield, Ill., Abraham Lincoln's hometown, it stands to be a dramatic statement of how far the nation has come.
