Ohio's 10th district is a heavily democratic district, encompassing the mainly white blue collar neighborhoods (Old Brooklyn, West Park) on Cleveland's west side. It also includes blue collar traditionally Catholic suburbs like Parma, Garfield Hts, and Lakewood, as well as more upscale areas like Rocky River and Westlake. It contains lots of manufacturing plants including the Parma GM and Cleveland Ford Plants, the huge Mittal (LTV)Steel plant, and others.
The local paper and Cleveland's mayor have endorsed a popular Cleveland councilman, Joe Cimperman, who currently represents the downtown neighborhoods of Cleveland (part of Tubbs-Jones district). He is probably the most legitimate threat to Dennis in the last 10 years. (
www.joecimperman.com)
Despite this, Dennis has an almost fanatical following among the blue-hairs and retirees, and probably remains the front-runner.
On the Republican side, there is a party hack, former Cuyahoga County Republican Party chairman Jim Trakas (
www.jimtrakas.org), and a 28 year old guy with no political experience who's running on a pro-life born-again Christian story (
www.jasonwerner.com). Werner's website says Kucinich has "communist values." As for Mr Werner, "His positions are clear: turn abortion clinics into memorials, re-establish the family as the center of society, decrease dependency on the federal government, maintain a strong military, create a more favorable environment for small businesses to prosper, and hold schools accountable for students’ academic progress. Mr. Werner gives thanks to Jesus Christ, as he became a Christian in May of 2000, and all of those whom have encouraged him to set his heart on things above, serve others, and exude a positive winning attitude." Mike Huckabee, anyone?
If he survives the primary, Dennis is a shoo-in against either "R" candidate in this district that went 58% for Kerry in 2004