Kucinich in Minneapolis

[Lydia Leftcoast]

An SRO crowd of ca. 1000 packed both levels of Roosevelt High School auditorium in Minneapolis on Tuesday evening, Oct. 14. Thanks to relentless phone calls from Kucinich supporters, the media were well-represented at the gathering.

Before Dennis arrived, we heard from some local musicians, two Minnesota legislators who have endorsed him, and Winona LaDuke. Finally Mimi Kennedy came on stage to announce Dennis who walked into the auditorium from the back, coming down one of the aisles, shaking hands with people all the way.

The crowd went wild.

Dennis's speech was similar to that outlined in the other thread, and once again, it was thrilling to hear someone who has a vision of a better America, instead of just wanting to follow along in the same old rut.

Then it was time for him to go on to the next city. Once again he went down the aisles, shaking hands all the way, and pausing at the entrance to chat with reporters before being driven to the airport by one of the local volunteers.

Afterwards, there was a reception at a local art gallery. About sixty people showed up, even though it was a bit of a trip to the gallery, and we sold lots of T-shirts and buttons, gave away a lot of free bumperstickers, window signs, and position papers, and took a lot of outright donations. We also signed up some new volunteers.

Despite the snide comments of some posters on this board, the Kucinich campaign feels as if it's growing, not shrinking, and the spirit is tremendous.

[cosmicdot]

1. rate this photo a "5"

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/031013/161/5k0m5.html&e=4&ncid=1617



"The crowd went wild."

[goodhue]

2. raucous, rock-star style reception

http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/4154716.html

Kucinich brings his presidential message to Minneapolis
Bob von Sternberg, Star Tribune

Published October 15, 2003 KUCI15

Dennis Kucinich may have little chance to capture the Democratic presidential nomination, but you wouldn't have known that from the raucous, rock-star style reception he got in Minneapolis Tuesday night.

More than 1,000 supporters jammed the auditorium at Roosevelt High School in south Minneapolis to hear the formal rollout of Kucinich's long shot presidential bid.

They gave him a roaring standing ovation, slapping high fives as he made his way to the stage, where he delivered his trademark anti-war, internationalist, unashamedly liberal stump speech.

"Our message says America can play a role in the world and rejoin the world community," Kucinich said. "We will work to put an end to war, and at this moment we begin the work of being repairers of the breach."

[JohnKleeb]

3. Seriously people always say oh he doesnt have a chance

but hes always getting rouding ovations. He's such a great man and I wish people would stop being superfical.

[ErasureAcer]

4. not exactly the most flattering article

thanks a lot strib. :(

they put dennis on the front page yesterday though and a lettor to the editor the day before.

this story will probably be on A7 or so...or maybe another bottom of the front page.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. Yeah, what kind of ending is that?

"steered the city into default" without mentioning that his refusal to sell out to the energy corporations led to millions of dollars in savings for the people of Cleveland.

[cosmicdot]

12. LTE time

surely someone is writing letters to the editor ... or asking for a retraction/correction

[Mairead]

10. "has little chance"

heh. It used to be 'has no chance'.

I think they're starting to smell the coffee

[genius]

6. It is growing. Where I live, it is the fastest growing of all the

campaigns. Around here, we're wonderng who is getting polled because we constantly run into people supporting Dennis but it's hard to find supporters of the other candidates except at the central committee.

[dpbrown]

7. It is tremendous, with nearly double the Central High crowd

A huge receptive crowd, probably more than 1400, with speeches and endorsements by Sen. John Marty, and DFL Senate Majority Leader John Hottinger and Winona LaDuke, former Green Party VP candidate.

And vision.

This man has vision.

I don't know why anyone would settle for less, knowing what this man has already done saving Cleveland's public power, beating three separate incumbent Republicans for their own seats, and getting higher re-elect numbers each time.

He's better on:

Universal Single-Payer Health Care.
Abolishing the Death Penalty.
Empowering Family Farmers in Energy Production and Food Distribution.
Making the Pentagon Accountable to the Taxpayers and Keeping Us Safer.
Getting a Federal Law on Gay Unions.

And more.

He's leading the fight in the House to defeat Bush's obnoxious continued handout of $87 billion to enrich Halliburton and the other war profiteers.

He's introduced a bill to repeal much of the civil rights gutting USAPATRIOT Act, and is already lining up co-sponsors.

And he still hasn't missed a vote in Congress.

Dennis Kucinich is the one!

Dan Brown
Saint Paul, Minnesota

[no name no slogan]

8. What a night!

WOW, that crowd looked HUGE from where I was (stage right, w/ other musician-types)! SRO on the first floor, upstairs balcony full of people! And of course Dennis was spot on as usual!

I heard that he got delayed somehow yesterday at Mpls and had to spend 1.5 hours on the ground for something, and Chicago may have missed out (sorry Chicago) :(. I can't wait for the NEXT time he comes back. Maybe we'll pack the Metrodome?!?!?!?!?! :D

[no name no slogan]

9. Hey, kids check this out from MPR

According to MPR, we had 2000 LAST NIGHT!!!!

http://news.mpr.org/features/2003/10/15_helmsm_kucinich/

WOW!!! I KNEW we had a crowd in there, but I had NO IDEA how big it was! Too bad only one TV channel saw fit to mention it on their 10:00 news (kudos to WCCO channel 4).

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. Woo-hoo!

I'll admit that I was a little concerned after I found out that it was the same evening as the Wellstone book release with special guest Al Franken, but my fears were assuaged when I arrived at Roosevelt at about 5:40 and had to park two blocks away AND saw people streaming toward the school.

That's when I knew that we'd have an impressive crowd by the time Dennis arrive.

You're right, only Channel 4 saw fit to mention the rally. The other stations had "important" stories to cover, like that woman who ran into her husband with a car. :crazy:

[CMT]

11. Minnesota could be Kucinich's breakout state

I think he will do pretty well there. I think he will tap into alot of the Wellstone supporters in the state.

[cosmicdot]

13. vote in the DU primary

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=537909