2004 Campaign: Kucinich a No-Show for 13.5% of Votes

During the 108th Congress (2003-2004) while Kucinich last ran for president, Dennis Kucinich missed 13.5% of House votes. In other words, about 95% of the country's Congressional districts had representatives who did a better job of showing up than Mr. Kucinich did while he was last off running for president. Dennis has traditionally been good about showing up for votes -- during the 107th Congress Kucinich missed only 0.8% of the votes. It's pretty clear Kucinich's run for the presidency -- and the accompanying spotlight -- had a detrimental effect on his attendence in Congress.

Of course, flagrant no-shows in Congress are not new. And most of the worst are involved in tough re-election campaigns or other campaigns. If anything, this is proof positive how running a campaign takes a toll on a Congressman's ability to be present on Capitol Hill. You can judge for yourself the wisdom of pursuing a presidential nomination and the effect it will have on Kucinich's ability to represent the Ohio 10th district. Especially when Kucinich got virtually no support when it came to actual votes in the primaries last time around.