What investments?

This past weekend, I had the priveledge of meeting and talking with the executive director of the genocide intervention network, Mark Hannis. His stories were inspiring and his ideas innovative.

One thing we discussed was how to make Darfur a campaign issue in 2008. Because I live in a swing state and famously contested county (Palm Beach County was the county of chads and butterfly ballots in 2000), candidates usually pop in pretty often during election season. So Mark reccommended local activists try to bring the issue up with candidates at public appearances as much as possible.


It just so happened I was meeting my favorite candidate, Dennis Kucinich on Saturday night at a political event. With Mark's advice on my mind, I boldly approached little Dennis during cocktail hour (blabbering out "I really, really love you" as my personal introduction) and then asked why he hadn't yet divested his personal investments from Sudan. (I know this from GINET's Darfur 2008 election project, askthecandidates.org)

He looked at me and blinked. "WHAT investments? I barely own my own home," he said, his elfin face obscured by righteousness. And suddenly it all came back to me; I saw, in memory, the websites that noted Kucinich was the poorest candidate, the son of factory workers, the one with only a few thousand dollars to his name.

So I laughed it off, and walked away, feeling sheepish.