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"Den-nis Ku-cin-ich is a'steppin' the right way for a pro-gressive so-ciety," the duo sang to the twang of Clarkson's resonator guitar and the stomp of DiSanto's boots.
The songwriters, who form the folk team "Dakota and the Black River Bandit," said they started following Kucinich's campaign after the first Democratic debate in April.
"There's not one thing I don't agree with him on," DiSanto said.
Kucinich campaigned in the 2004 presidential race but failed to win the Democratic nomination. Clarkson and DiSanto and they are worried history may repeat itself, unless the public becomes more aware of Kucinich's platform.
"If everyone votes for who they really think could best represent them," DiSanto said, "I think he has a very good chance this time."
"Everyone just needs to vote from their hearts," Clarkson said.
But Patrick Kenney, a political science professor, said he was less optomistic about Kucinich's bid for the Democratic nomination.
"I think his chances are really slim," Kenney said. "The other candidates stand a much better chance, just in terms of money, experience and current poll standings."
In a CNN poll, conducted Aug. 6 to 8, 2 percent of respondents said they would vote for Kucinich in the February Democratic primary. Clinton and Obama led the poll, which had a +/- 4.5 percent margin of error.
DiSanto and Clarkson argued that poll results may not accurately gauge a candidate's true standing, though. They said in "blind taste tests," where only the candidates' veiwpoints are polled, Kucinich has done very well.
It's a matter of name recognition, the musicians explained - which is why it's so critical for them to get Kucinich's name out there.
"We think it's very important for people to be educated about all the candidates running for president," DiSanto said. "I think the biggest thing we can do is encourage people to do their research."
Kenney agreed that participation in politics is imperative and said he supports Clarkson's and DiSanto's efforts.
"It certainly can't hurt, most likely," he said, "because anything that can improve his [Kucinich's] name recognition is good."
Kenney added that the use of the online medium, and YouTube specifically, might improve Kucinich's chances with the college crowd - a group that could prove to be vital to a candidate's success.
"If there are five, six, seven, eight candidates in a race, like we're seeing this year," Kenney said, "the winner may have only 20 percent of the vote. A bulk of young voters could be very helpful."
But DiSanto and Clarkson said time is running out because Kucinich has just six months to win over the voters befor the Democratic primary election.
"Some people say, 'Oh, I love that guy, but he's not going to win," DiSanto said. "That's like a dagger in the heart for us."
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Crazy for Kucinich: ASU Students produce YouTube video supporting Presidential candidate
by Sarah Owen
August 28, 2007
Presidential hopeful Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, has gone country with a little help from two ASU students who recently found a unique way to show the congressman their support.
Dakota DiSanto, a journalism sophmore, and Randall Clarkson, a conservation biology senior, recorded a song about Kucinich and posted it on YouTube, a video sharing Web site. In the last week and a half since the video was produced and posted, it had received more than 1,000 hits. Several other Democratic candidates - including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain - have fan videos on YouTube.
Their song, "Dennis Kucinich for 2008," applauds the candidate's stance on issues ranging from healthcare to campaign finance reform with a folk music twist.