Tenacious D (continued)

But neither Sabato nor Sifry takes into account Kucinich’s zealous faith in the power of positive thinking. For Kucinich — who surmounted occasional homelessness as a child to become mayor of Cleveland at the age of 31 — conceptual frameworks rather than practical considerations dictate what can and can’t happen. The congressman cites the Romantic poets as major personal influences. He keeps an anthology of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s work — open to Prometheus Unbound — on the desk of his Capitol Hill office, and often closes stump speeches with a line from Tennyson’s "Ulysses": "Come, my friends,/ ’Tis not too late to seek a newer world." In addition, Kucinich is close to Marianne Williamson, a prolific New Age author whose organization, the Global Renaissance Alliance, advocates the creation of a Department of Peace. (The Global Renaissance Alliance also champions the use of "peace circles," in which participants use prayer, silent meditation, and visualization exercises to create a "grid of mystical power that will shield the world from its own insanity, and move through the fear to the love." The group’s former peace-circles coordinator served as California coordinator for the Kucinich campaign and later as an assistant to Kucinich’s national-campaign manager.)

These views haven’t hurt Kucinich in his congressional district, which includes Cleveland’s liberal West Side: in 2002, he was re-elected with 74 percent of the vote, and tallied 85 percent in this spring’s Democratic congressional primary. But for most of the nation’s voters, this New Age tinge made it easy to dismiss him as a marginal eccentric. Yet Kucinich insists he never finds it frustrating or disheartening to advocate views that don’t jibe with the cultural mainstream. "You just have to keep your heart open," he says. "And as long as you do that, anything can happen. Success always comes to those who have the ability to envision different ways of looking at things." Before Kerry gained a mathematical lock on the nomination, Kucinich’s continued optimism had a neat and unassailable internal logic: he could still become president for the simple reason that he still believed it was possible.

ALTHOUGH KUCINICH admits he won’t be the Democratic nominee, he now insists that he can become the Democratic Party’s ideological architect — an equally quixotic ambition. How, exactly, does he intend to do this? Partly through a Web-based petition drive aimed at shaping the Democratic platform to suit his priorities: immediate transfer of US military authority in Iraq to UN forces; universal health care; withdrawal from NAFTA and the World Trade Organization; repeal of the Patriot Act; creation of a US Department of Peace; and comprehensive affirmation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights. (Kucinich, who spoke at last weekend’s Boston Gay Pride celebration, has been a consistently vocal supporter of full-marriage rights for gays and lesbians.) His campaign is also planning daily workshops on progressive issues during the July national convention, as well as evening "street actions" and an anti-war candlelight vigil on the closing night of the proceedings. Asked how observers will be able to gauge whether he succeeds, Kucinich answers — true to form — in doubt-free terms: "When the delegates are canvassed, and it’s declared that they stand for getting out of Iraq. For ending the Patriot Act. For health care for all Americans. For fair trade."

Yet again, the jaded might say that Kucinich is milking his Warholian 15 minutes a bit too long. His chances of shaping the party’s platform aren’t much better than his chances of being elected president were. The vast majority of delegates at the FleetCenter will have one priority — helping John Kerry beat George W. Bush — and while some of Kucinich’s positions may exercise considerable appeal, it’s a safe bet that this year’s Democratic platform will be the one Kerry’s camp deems most likely to serve that goal. If Kucinich had more delegates, something unexpected and dramatic might happen. But even some Kucinich boosters concede their candidate probably lacks the leverage to have much effect. "I hope he raises a fuss, because after all, he represents a very large part of the Democratic Party, which is not represented by John Kerry," says Howard Zinn, who belongs to a long list of prominent left-leaning Kucinich endorsers. "But how he can actually make that representation practical and meaningful at the convention.... Can he have an effect on the platform? I don’t know. These conventions are controlled by the dominant force in the party, and Kerry is the dominant force."

Of course, Kucinich himself is more sanguine. As he sees it, a Kucinich-engineered makeover of the Democratic Party is not only possible, but has the potential to spur a revolution in American government. "If our party took a clear and strong stand to support universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health care, I think you’d have people lining up on Election Day to vote Democrat," he says. "It’s both pragmatic and principled to do that. The question is, will we? I think the Democrats are ready for a real shift. And I think a Democratic sweep" — taking control of the House, the Senate, and the White House — "could be generated out of this convention if it’s done right. It’s the message that I have been carrying, right from the beginning, that may prove to be the winning combination for the Democrats."