Posted on 12/05/2003 2:52:02 PM PST by Sub-Driver
Long shot for the White House: N.J. woman wins date with candidate Friday December 05, 2003 By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press Writer Jersey girl Gina Marie Santore might just get U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, the most publicity he's had in his quixotic campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
On the campaign trail in New Hampshire last month, Kucinich joked that there could be a reality TV show to pick his first lady.
Almost immediately, the Web sites PoliticsNH.com, which serves political junkies looking for the scoop on the first-in-the-nation primaries, and Liberalhearts.com, which serves lefties looking for love, commenced the search for a first lady for Kucinich.
Eighty women applied, and the field was narrowed to two for the final vote Thursday and Friday.
Santore received 54 percent of the roughly 20,000 votes, edging out Margie Jessup, a Milton, Wis., woman who volunteers for Kucinich.
Without federal campaign laws to worry about, Santore, of Maple Shade, pulled out all the stops. She joked that reporters had to agree to vote for her in exchange for interviews.
``It's a Jersey tradition,'' she said.
She'll be flown to New Hampshire for dinner with the candidate. (A tip for Santore: Don't order steak, Kucinich is a vegetarian.)
Truth be told, Santore, 34, an aide to the Camden County sheriff who has worked for several New Jersey Democrats, is more excited about exchanging ideas with Kucinich than marrying him.
``I think the opportunity to meet a candidate in the Democratic primary would really be awesome,'' she said.
And as far as nuptials, there's one hindrance: Santore's boyfriend.
He initially protested her entering the first lady race when he saw a picture of the thin 57-year-old former Cleveland mayor who's known for opposing most free trade agreements and supporting marijuana decriminalization.
``He said, `I don't understand. You're trying to go out with this guy?''' Santore reported.
Polls place Kucinich last or nearly last among the nine Democrats vying to take on President Bush in next year's election.
But the contest to find the twice-divorced Kucinich a new wife has gotten him downright presidential treatment: It's made him the butt of monologue jokes by both David Letterman and Jay Leno.
Hope this works!
dim bulbs have no morals.
Miss Jessup, by finishing second, won two dates with Kucinich.
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