The Liberal Left is the Base of the Party

[Recursion]

121. Miller left the party, and Kucinich is sui generis

Kucinich was elected in '96 as an anti-choice white ethnic rust belt industrial Democrat, keep in mind, and didn't "see the light" (*ahem*) and change to a pro-choice position until his Presidential run nearly a decade later. And then he took a job at Fox. I mean no insult to him when I say this, but a good comparison would be Jerry Springer (in his political, not showbiz, career) -- though Springer, as a Jewish immigrant from the UK, also defies some typical white ethnic Democratic stereotypes. Both made gains in traditionally Republican districts in the 70s and 80s using what would become the Carville playbook: solid ethnic white and minority coalitions combined with pocketbook issues that peeled away just enough WASP women to win (see Clinton, William J.)

His national profile as the knight errant of the left was certainly a good thing to see, but it bore little to no relation to how he actually got to where he was -- after he took OH 10, the GOP never mounted another serious challenge to him until the recent redistricting, which left him free to construct whatever national profile he wanted. In that sense you could see his OH coalition as the last gasp of the pre-Reagan rust belt Democrats, a constituency we have more or less conceded as of now.