Kucinich left home when he was 17 years old, renting a $50-a-month walk-up apartment, enrolling at Cleveland State University and working at the copy desk at The Plain Dealer. He attended Cleveland State from 1967-70, but earned his bachelor's degree in speech communications from Case Western Reserve University in 1973. The following year he earned a master's degree in speech communications from Case Western.

At the age of 31, Kucinich became the youngest mayor of a major American city. But two years into his tenure, Cleveland became the first city to go into default since the Great Depression, prompting some members of the media to dub him "Dennis the Menace."

Cleveland's economy received plenty of unwelcome attention, and Kucinich was at the center of it. It was opening day at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in April 1978 when Kucinich stood on the mound to toss out the first pitch, wearing a bulletproof vest. Fans shouted "Kill the bum" from the stands, and boos from the crowd of 75,000 were heard.

Kucinich survived a recall by only 236 votes, but he lost his reelection to Republican George Voinovich the following year in 1979.

The congressman's rise back into politics in the 1990s came after a string of disappointments. Following his defeat in the mayoral election, his second marriage ended, he almost lost his house and he couldn't find work in Cleveland. Eventually, he moved to California where he wrote a still unpublished autobiography. Later, he returned to Cleveland and found his way back into politics, Dennis Kucinichwinning a seat in 1994 in the Ohio Senate.

His political success in the '90s, however, was based on one of the very things that caused his attempted recall. When Kucinich was mayor, local banks threatened to call in a $15 million loan if he didn't sell the city's municipal electrical system. He refused. Though at the time, it led the city into default -- and subsequently the recall that he barely survived and later a landslide defeat -- the move proved paramount to his later success.

In the 1990s Cleveland officials credited Kucinich with Cleveland's low electricity rates. His campaign symbol was a light bulb with the slogan "Because he was right." He won a seat in the state Senate in 1994, and two years later, in the U.S. House with the slogan, "Light up Congress."

Though Kucinich's presidential campaign hasn't received as much media attention as other candidates, he has enjoyed the support of long-time friend Ralph Nader, the leader of the group Public Citizen.

"Dennis is for real," said Nader. "He's very consistent in his public philosophy that the government exists to serve the people first, not the corporations. He's been very steadfast under that pursuit under enormous pressure."

Kucinich, a fourth term congressman and chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has promoted a national health care system, preservation of social security, increased unemployment insurance benefits and cost-based rates for electricity, natural gas and home heating oil.

In addition to his political posts as Cleveland City Council member, mayor, state senator and U.S. congressman, Kucinich has held a number of nonpolitical jobs. He has worked as a court clerk, radio talk show host, lecturer, media consultant, reporter, copyreader and surgical technician.

Recently, Kucinich has been speaking out as an ardent supporter of quite a few bills that if debated and signed into law could allow America to move forward significantly. Some of those bills are:

-H.R.321 -Providing that the new permanent Council of Representatives of Iraq is encouraged to debate and vote on whether or not a continued United States military presence in Iraq is desired by the Government of Iraq.

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