Kucinich Challenged on Terror
By Juliet Eilperin
Saturday, September 13, 2003; Page A06
Rep. Dennis Kucinich's ambitions are set on winning the nation's highest office, but the lawmaker from Ohio may need to turn some of his attention to keeping his House seat -- just in case he doesn't succeed in winning the Democratic presidential nomination.
Republican Edward Fitzpatrick Herman has announced he will challenge the four-term lawmaker. Herman was a corporate and government consultant before being called up to active military service in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. As a part of a military intelligence task force under Central Command, he interrogated dozens of al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan, according to his campaign.
"Northeast Ohioans deserve a representative in Washington who understands the importance of the war on terror," Herman said. "I am running for Congress because Dennis Kucinich does not appreciate the nature and magnitude of the threat facing America from worldwide terrorist organizations."
Kucinich spokesman Doug Gordon countered that Kucinich -- a sharp critic of the Bush administration's handling of the fight against terrorism -- can withstand his opponent's attacks because he has a strong record where it counts: Ohio's 10th District.
"He saved two community hospitals, a steel plant and reduced train traffic throughout the district. He is well known as a fighter for the little man," Gordon said.
Dean, Digging Deeper
Howard Dean, in a hole for his statement that the United States should not "take sides" between Israel and the Palestinians, keeps on digging.
Under fire from fellow candidates, Democratic lawmakers and Jewish groups, Dean sought to soften his claim that "it's not our place to take sides" in the Middle East. In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Dean allowed that he only meant that the United States should be an honest broker in negotiations and that "perhaps I could have used a different euphemism."
But, in talking about Israel's assassinations of leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement, known as Hamas, Dean said: "There is a war going on in the Middle East, and members of Hamas are soldiers in that war, and, therefore, it seems to me that they are going to be casualties if they are going to make war."
U.S. politicians typically call Hamas fighters "terrorists" rather than soldiers. Rival candidate Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) yesterday said that in referring to Hamas members as soldiers, Dean "insults the memory of every innocent man, woman, and child killed by these suicidal murderers."
Dean, in a statement, said, "Of course, Hamas is a terrorist organization," adding that his rivals were guilty of "petty, political gamesmanship."
Fortunately for Dean, he did not say "freedom fighters."
Dragged Into Redistricting Fight
The fight over Texas's congressional borders, it seems, knows no bounds.
Texas state House Speaker Tom Craddick (R), who has led the push to redraw the state's districts, has asked the National Conference of State Legislatures to remove state Rep. Garnet Coleman, one of the leading Democratic opponents of the re-redistricting plan, from the group's executive committee. Craddick's office declined to comment on the request, but Coleman, who was elected to the board by its 40 other members, is furious.
"It is unconscionable that you would attempt to involve NCSL and jeopardize its bipartisan reputation in what is essentially a retaliatory action against me for my position on the unnecessary redistricting battle here in Texas," Coleman wrote Craddick.
The spat echoes a similar fight earlier this year, when several Republican governors accused the National Governors Association, which also has a tradition of bipartisanship, of being too critical of the Bush administration and having too many Democratic staffers. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has boycotted that group.
Coleman accused Craddick of threatening to withhold the state's dues to the group if his request was not met.
Bill Wyatt, a spokesman for the NCSL, said that given the organization's rules, it has no way of removing Coleman.
Staff writer Dana Milbank and political researcher Brian Faler contributed to this report.
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