Dennis Kucinich to face fellow Democrat Marcy Kaptur in Ohio primary

Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.

/ Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Longtime Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich will face off against fellow Democrat Marcy Kaptur - herself the longest-serving woman in the House - in the primary for a new Ohio district this March, the congressman confirmed to CBS News on Wednesday.

Kucinich, who ran for president in 2004 and 2008, formerly represented Ohio's 10th district, which he has been serving since 1997. Kaptur has been serving Ohio's 9th district since 1983. Due to redistricting, however, which resulted in the loss of two Ohio seats, the two regions will merge into a new 9th district - and the longtime colleagues will go head-to-head in an effort to hold on to their jobs.

The new district lines seem to skew to Kaptur's benefit, and Kucinich had openly considered running in other districts - including one in Washington state, which gained a seat in redistricting. On Wednesday, however, the congressman filed paperwork signaling that he will indeed remain with his constituents in the Cleveland area. (The new ninth district is larger than either was previously, spanning from Cleveland to Toledo along lake Eerie.)

In an interview on Wednesday, Kucinich said he thinks the newly-drawn district will encompass a significant portion of his base and that he has a good chance of winning.

"This redistricting process - not just in Ohio but nationally - is unique and a little bit crazy," Kucinich told Hotsheet. "But when all is said and done, the new district kept intact the heart of my political base, with my home in it, and so I'm confident that I have a good chance to win." (When asked if he thought the redistricting process had been fair in Ohio, the congressman laughed heartily.)

Regardless, the longtime congressman says he won't take anything for granted in the upcoming election.

"It's certainly a competitive race and one that I intend to work very hard to win," he said. "I don't take anything for granted. It's a challenge for all the candidates; there's 69 days until the election. When they changed the map they also set a March 6th primary. We don't have much time - I just have to get out there."

"I'm just going to go out there and campaign and focus on a couple things," he added. "Focus on how we can create jobs, talk about the constituents service that's really been the hallmark of my work inside the district. It's really important when people feel that you care about their concerns."

A vocal antiwar activist, Kucinich said he would also continue to advocate for peace -- and that he thinks America "is starting to move in my direction" on the issue.

He noted that he has known Kaptur for thirty years, and said he would approach the upcoming race "in the spirit of friendship."

"Listen, neither of us chose the map," Kucinich said. "It is what it is. I'm approaching this election in a spirit of friendship. You can be competitors but you can still be friends."

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When Obama was bribing his ilk to vote for the Healthcare bill, I think Kucinich was the one Obama sent a private plane (taxpayers money)to bring him back to vote for it when he went home without voting, then he gave Nelson the "cornhusker" deal and the people of Nebraska was so outraged he accepted it that he turned it back in and he knows they have NOT forgot it and that is why he is retiring. Maybe Kucinich should too! Then we had the "Louisiana Purchase" and the Florida "Gator Aide". I think Obama would sell his own mother! Oh, wait he did tell a big lie about his mother! He claimed she could NOT get any insurance because of an existing condiditon and then the book came out written by Janny Scott and when she researched it- LO AND BEHOLD! She was FULLY COVERED by her employer!!! I guess when Obama was attending socialist conferences and reading Marxist books and studying Saul Alinsky (as he admitted) he learned to do a lot of things since Alinsky preached: Lie, steal, cheat, etc., while making those with American principles live up to high standards, so we preach our LIBERAL goverment and PREACH CHANGE and gradually build an activist army. He has to go in 2012!!!!