Kucinich says he is "protecting" John Kerry from Ralph Nader

[JI7]

<As he continues his quixotic campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is positioning himself as the man who can protect Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) left flank from Ralph Nader.

Kucinich added, “Isn’t it much better to have expressed through the person of another Democrat than to have it expressed through the person of a third-party candidate? I mean, this is where it makes a difference, and this is where it could make all the difference in the general election."

Informed that Kucinich sees himself as keeping Nader from drawing votes from Kerry, Nader said, “I don’t know what he means by that because he’s told people that he’s happy I’m going to go right through” to election day.

Although Kucinich appeared with Nader as recently as last October at a rally hosted by Democracy Rising, an organization founded by Nader, Doug Gordon, Kucinich’s press secretary, ruled out the possibility that Kucinich will support anybody but the presumptive nominee, Kerry.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), perhaps Nader’s most vocal critic during the 2000 election, praised Kucinich for staying “within the Democratic Party.” He cited Kucinich’s presence in the primary debates, stating that, “Nader could have done all that. … He should have followed Dennis’s example.”>

http://www.thehill.com/news/060904/kucinich.aspx