The Love Song of Dennis J. Kucinich

No Wonder the Candidate Saw a UFO. He's Been Up There on Cloud Nine.

By Libby Copeland
Washington Post


HART'S LOCATION, N.H. One day last spring, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the Ohio Democrat and long-shot presidential candidate, and his young British wife, Elizabeth, were sitting in an Italian restaurant in Dupont Circle.

They were by the window. They were holding hands. Elizabeth Kucinich was looking lovely, as usual -- the red hair, the luminous skin, the green eyes, the fine cheekbones. Dennis was looking, as usual, like Dennis Kucinich.

This guy passed by the window. He stopped. He stared at Elizabeth through the glass. Then he came into the restaurant and walked right up to their table.

"Doesn't even look at me!" Dennis is saying, grinning, as he retells this story between campaign stops. "He looks at her and he says, 'You are the most incredibly beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life!' I'm sitting right there, you know?"

"We're holding hands!" Elizabeth exclaims, in her elegant accent. She's lounging in front of the inn's fireplace, all six feet of her, looking like Botticelli's Venus, only with clothes on.

"He says, 'I've never done this before, but what are you doing for dinner?' " Dennis says.

"I just said, 'I'm sorry, I'm with my husband.' " Elizabeth says.

And the guy got all embarrassed and apologized and walked away.

(Continued here.)