Kucinich upset!

In the News: After going to extreme measures to try to get himself included in the debates, including attempting to get a New Hampshire judge to hear his case against ABC news and threatening to bring in the FCC, Kucinich and co-candidates, Gravel and Hunter, were not included in the debates. ABC’s reasoning was that they only allowed candidates who got at least 5% support in the Iowa caucus. However, in the wake of the debates, actor Viggo Mortensen flew to New Hampshire to speak of his displeasure at Kucinich’s exclusion from the debate. Singer Melissa Etheridge also complained. Kucinich was not fazed by his exclusion and even stated that he believed his campaign was boosted by the debates; he is now speaking to mainstream democrats and stating that if they agree with him on issues important to them, then they shouldn’t shy away from him solely because of his standing in the polls. Kucinich is also having problems closer to home; his congressional seat is being threatened by four new candidates after Kucinich filed to run for president and for congress. Also, Kucinich is having problems with the Democrats officials of Texas because he has stated that he will withdraw support of a democratic nominee if they do not pledge to pull troops out of Iraq; he is trying to edit a loyalty oath. He, along with the support of Willie Nelson, have filed a lawsuit to get him on the Texas primary ballot. In other news, Kucinich is firmly against the Verizon deal to sell its land-line business to FairPoint Communications. Kucinich stated that his supporters should back Obama if he does not survive the early rounds of the caucus.

In the Books: Kucinich has published an autobiography, but has not worked on promoting it.

In the Polls: During the month of December, Kucinich still maintained his percentages at 1-4%. During the Iowa caucus, Kucinich did not manage to get the required 5% of votes to participate in ABC's debates.