The Kucinich Conundrum

Why does a 60-year-old vegan former mayor of Cleveland keep running for President? Maybe because he thinks he's right

Gregory Heisler for TIME

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), presidential contender, photographed at the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., on February 27, 2007.

Remember that kid in high school who ran for class president, the one who wasn't popular, who didn't have money or dress well or even make a decent hallway poster? Now imagine if he sticks to it so long he starts to win. And by the time he's 23, he's a city councilman in Cleveland. At 31, he's the country's youngest big city mayor. All this success, you figure, would make his skin glow a little, his suits a bit spiffier, his speeches a little punchier. But what if he was so damn earnest that it didn't? What if at 60...

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