Kucinich fends off challenger

Race among toughest congressional contests in Ohio, Texas

The Associated Press

updated 1:24 a.m. ET, Wed., March. 5, 2008

CLEVELAND - Dennis Kucinich, the liberal Ohio politician who has made two failed White House campaigns, won the Democratic primary in his battle to keep his seat.

Although the presidential primary commanded most of the nation's attention, Kucinich's race was the best known congressional contest on ballots in Ohio and Texas.

Other races included three veterans of the Iraq war seeking congressional nominations in Ohio and a battle for the nomination to challenge Sen. John Cornyn in Texas. Voters in one Vermont community approved a measure calling for the arrest of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

For years, the 61-year-old Kucinich has won re-election by margins of up to 75 percent in a reliably Democratic district.

But after sensing early that 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.

Joe Cimperman, a Cleveland City Council member and former Kucinich admirer, raised nearly $500,000 and landed high-profile endorsements from the mayor and the city's daily newspaper.

Ron Paul also won the primary election for his congressional seat. I wanted to post a similar story about his win, but it was hard finding anything. Any way, way to go guys. Oh yeah, and Clinton won 3 out of 4 states in the primary last night. So the fight goes on.