Dennis calls it a day

Dennis Kucinich has withdrawn from the presidential race:

In a speech delivered in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio Congressman and Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich delivered an impassioned speech that said, in part:

"I deeply and sincerely believe that we fought the good fight – in large part because of the support from all of you here and from hundreds of thousands of people just like you all across this country. I stood strong because you gave me strength. I spoke out because your voices needed and deserved to be heard. And I told the truth, no matter how unpopular or inconvenient, because, no matter how long it takes, the truth really will set us free.

"I won't be President, but I can continue to fight for these important issues as a Congressman..."

His voice will be missed. The other three candidates are extremely close to each on most issues, and I won't have a problem voting for whichever of them ends up with the nomination (though I do have my clear favorite), but Dennis consistently raised issues they don't want to talk about. His exclusion from the debates - actual exclusion in the last few, and virtual exclusion in earlier ones, where the media and the "moderator" focused only on the big three, with no more than token questions to the others - made it harder for him to be heard, but he kept on until it became apparent that it wasn't working, and that his congressional seat was under attack.

We need to keep pushing and ask those questions every chance we get. Iran, real universal health care, civil liberties, checks on presidential power: these things are too important to let them slip off the table.