Presidential hopeful Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio gestures to the audience at the Visible Vote '08: A Presidential Forum in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles on Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007. The event, co-sponsored by cable channel Logo and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian

Dennis Kucinich (D) Representative, OH Born: 10/08/1946 Birthplace: Cleveland, OH Home: Cleveland, OH Religion: Catholic >> Website >> Forum >> Related Stories Coming Events

PORTSMOUTH — Coming off a week which his campaign said was his best of the primary season, Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio will visit the Seacoast today.

Kucinich will tour the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard this morning before heading for a campaign office open house in Dover. He made campaign stops in Manchester, Concord and Plymouth on Wednesday.

The campaign was energized, said his New Hampshire spokesperson, by Kucinich's appearance at last week's AFL-CIO debate in Chicago.

"Moneywise, supportwise and organizationwise, this was his best week," said Chris Collier, Kucinich's New Hampshire communications director. "... People are getting to know what's he about."

Collier said Kucinich will lay out his "strength through peace" defense policies — which include a halt to privatizing defense industry jobs — at the shipyard and will talk about alternative energy development in Dover.

Kucinich, a former mayor of Cleveland who was elected to his sixth term in Congress last November, has stood out from his Democratic rivals on a number of issues. He wants Congress to stop funding the Iraq war immediately and begin withdrawing troops — while noting that he was the only candidate who voted against the war authorization legislation in 2002. He has sponsored legislation calling for impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney and proposed a single-payer universal health care plan.

Kucinich was given some of the loudest cheers at the Chicago debate by telling the AFL-CIO members he was the only card-carrying union member candidate and he would scrap NAFTA, the free trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Kucinich finished sixth in the 2004 New Hampshire primary with 1.4 percent or 3,104 votes. In the most recent primary poll by the UNH Survey Center, Kucinich saw his support increase to three percent, still placing him sixth among Democratic contenders.