E-Mail This Article to a Friend CAMPAIGN TRAIL Kucinich: The record BY MIKE MILIARD

Dennis Kucinich finished a distant fifth in the Iowa caucuses, and garnered just one percent of the vote in this week’s New Hampshire primary. But while the Ohio congressman’s supporters may constitute a tiny group, it’s a vocal one.

Indeed, as "the Kooch" forges ahead in his concurrent quests to ascend to the Oval Office and find a wife who’ll appreciate his elfin good looks, die-hard partisans have joined together to sing his praises. And while the encomiums on We Want Kucinich (available at www.wewantkucinich.com) may not all have glossy production values or catchy chord progressions, what the artists lack in talent, they make up for in earnestness.

On "Peace Is Possible," Gil Raviv sounds like a creaky New York–era Lou Reed as he rambles over sparse preprogrammed beats. "Peee-eeace," he squeak-speaks. "Ya know peace is possible. Peeeeeee-eeace. Oh ya kna-ow, peace is poss-i-bawl!" It’s true, peace is possible. But this isn’t the way to make it happen; in fact, the song awakens a violence in me I never knew I had. And just as "the media don’t wanna say his name, ’cos Kucinich don’t play the corporate game," and "little babies don’t wanna hear the bombs goin’ off on creation," you don’t wanna hear this song.

Kevin Ronkko’s "Decision Number One" is a heart-rending tale of a soldier’s march to war that sounds like it was recorded in 1961 by a drugged castrato in the echo of an empty grain silo. A somnambulant dirge punctuated with martial drum rolls, this ditty is a real downer. But Ronkko, too, has hope (so, apparently, does the helium-voiced homunculus who does the background singing): "Do not be afraid — peeeeeeeeace is possible! — peace shall prevail — peeeeeeeeace is possible! — where is your love? — liiiiiiiiife is lovable!... Let Dennis Kucinich be the candidate for me. Dennis Kucinich: It has to be."

Midway through the record, there’s a welcome change of pace with "Imagine the Dream Team," a bangin’ block-rocker from a duo called Whoolilicious and Deeelicious. (Could Kerry-campaign mastermind Michael Whouley actually be a closet Kucinich supporter? Nah ...) It may be an anthem for the ’04 election, but these booming beats and swooning breakdowns are straight outta ’88: "Dennis Kucinich is the man, with world peace as his master plan. Department of Peace instead of war, will open international doors.... I’m a patriot, can’t you see? I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY NAMED A MISSILE AFTER ME!"

Meanwhile, Joel Tyner’s "Go, Go, Dennis" weds a smooth jazz-rap flow to some seriously whack rhymes:

Go, go, Dennis.

You ain’t no menace!

Run, run Dennis.

You ain’t no menace!

....

He knows that NAFTA,

We didn’t hafta.

Only one to stop us from getting the shaft-a

....

Even Willie Nelson and ol’ Peter Coyote

Are backin’ Dennis, so get your mind off peyote.

The penultimate paean, "There’s a Fire in His Belly," is Gil Raviv’s anemic attempt at reggae, delivered in an ersatz Jamaican patois ("He won’t leave ya cold, take care of ya when yer sick or old ... even when they make ya frown, Dennis’ll turn it around"). But Ursa Minor’s "Kucinich Dub" is a winner, weaving Kucinich’s own campaign speeches ("The corporatization of thought ... separates us from our higher natures!") with swooshes of chill-out music swirled with interstellar bleeps and bloops. It’s the most convincing presentation of his platform I’ve heard yet — and if the president thing doesn’t work out, DK might just have a career as a DJ to fall back on.

But right now that’s the furthest thing from his mind. Kucinich has a fire in his belly and his eyes on the prize. Indeed, a recent Associated Press story reported that he’s been banking on "a scenario in which no clear winner emerges from state primaries and caucuses, and he prevails with the most delegates at the national convention in July.

"‘It is inevitable, really,’ he said."

We Want Kucinich can be purchased at http://www.wewantkucinich.com/ for $7.50, or $15 for a combo including four other CDs.