Dennis Kucinich: End of a progessive icon's era?

Kucinich became a city councilman in Cleveland at the age of 23, mayor at 31, and ex-mayor at the age of 33. In the second phase of his career, he was elected to represent Cleveland in Congress in 1996, and when he ran for president in 2003-2004 he became a national figure, his anti-war stance making him an unlikely cult hero among progressives.

He revived his presidential ambitions in 2007-2008, but, as in the previous race, made little dent in the polls or in the primaries.

Although extremely serious, Kucinich also knew how to have fun. While running for president in 2007, Kucinich and his much younger wife Elizabeth paid a visit to Tampa and made a journey to Skipper's Smokehouse, where WMNF was doing a Led Zeppelin tribute show.

In addition to being a liberal icon on MSNBC, Kucinich was an occasional guest on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News show. Kucinich distinguished himself from many of his fellow Democrats in 2007 by saying that he would gladly appear on the conservative cable network, but a boycott led by the Congressional Black Caucus prevented a planned debate from being broadcast.

In his comments to the media last night, Kucinich blasted Kaptur for running a negative campaign. "That's not who I am," the Cleveland Plain-Dealer reported. "Our politics have to be lifted up. They don't belong in the gutter."

Kucinich returned to Washington D.C. today, where he will remain in office until the end of the year — unless he opts to run for that seat in Washington, as there are questions about whether he could remain in office representing one seat while running for another.