Log In | Register
COLUMBUS — Dennis Kucinich may not be a presidential contender, but he is still a winner among his Cleveland constituents.
The Ohio liberal won 50 percent of the vote in a five-way Democratic congressional primary Tuesday, beating back critics who said he ignored business at home to travel the country in his quest to be president.
The six-term incumbent will face former state Rep. Jim Trakas, who won 80 percent of Republican votes cast in the northeast Ohio district. Kucinich's race was the best-known congressional contest on ballots in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday.
Other races included a fight for the nomination to challenge Sen. John Cornyn in Texas. In Vermont, voters in one community approved a measure calling for the arrest of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
For years, the 61-year-old Kucinich won re-election by margins of up to 75 percent in a reliably Democratic district.
But after sensing early that Cleveland City Council member Joe Cimperman was a formidable opponent, Kucinich abandoned his presidential campaign on Jan. 25, months earlier in the race than he did in 2004, when he also was polling in low one-digit numbers.
After leaving the White House race, Kucinich returned to his familiar fighting-for-you mantra to win renomination and landed a quick $700,000 in contributions.
Other winners in Ohio on Tuesday included two veterans of the Iraq war — state Sens. John Boccieri, a Democrat, and Steve Stivers, a Republican — who hope to win contests among three open U.S. House seats vacated by veteran Republicans after Democrats took congressional control in 2006.
Boccieri won 64 percent of the Democratic vote in the northeast Ohio district held by Ralph Regula, and Stivers had 66 percent of the GOP vote in the central Ohio district held by Deborah Pryce.
Republicans say they are confident they can retain the three reliably GOP-leaning districts, which Regula, Pryce and David Hobson have held for a combined 68 years.
But Democrats say Regula's and Pryce's districts are among their best hopes nationally to pick up seats. Republicans hold an 11-7 majority in Ohio's congressional delegation, while Democrats control the House 231-198.
In Texas, Cornyn easily defeated consultant Larry Kilgore on Tuesday. The Republican incumbent already has $7 million for the fall campaign against State Rep. Rick Noriega of Houston, an Army National Guard lieutenant colonel who served in Afghanistan and won the Democratic primary.
In Houston, the Republican who finished former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's congressional term and a former Cornyn aide survived a 10-way primary and were headed to a runoff.
Shelley Sekula Gibbs, the former Houston City Council member who briefly replaced DeLay after investigations forced him to resign, and Pete Olson got less than a third of the vote each with nearly all precincts reporting. The winner of the April 8 runoff will face incumbent Democratic Rep. Nick Lampson.
Also in Houston, an assistant district attorney and a former state judge were headed for a runoff in the Republican primary for Harris County district attorney. The incumbent, Chuck Rosenthal, was forced to resign after a scandal involving the release of dozens of pornographic and racist e-mails.
With 77 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night, prosecutor Kelly Siegler had about 41 percent of the vote, while former judge Pat Lykos had about 33 percent.
Siegler and Lykos would square off in the runoff if neither candidate gets a majority, which appeared unlikely to happen. The winner will face face Democratic former Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford, who was unopposed Tuesday.
In Vermont, voters in the town of Brattleboro endorsed a measure calling for the indictment of Bush and Cheney on charges of violating the Constitution.
The symbolic article seeks to have Bush and Cheney arrested if they visit Brattleboro or to extradite them for prosecution elsewhere — if they aren't impeached first.
___
Associated Press writer Suzanne Gamboa in Dallas contributed to this report.
