Another One Bites the Dust.

And then there were nine... so far. Former Illinois Senator Carolyn Mosley-Braun, Florida Senator Bob Graham and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich have jumped into the fray since the February issue of NRL News was printed. They, like six other pro-abortion Democrats, want the chance to run against pro-life President George W. Bush. (See story, page 6.)

All have strengths, all have weaknesses. Until recently, however, only Rep. Richard Gephardt (Missouri) was shackled by one particularly onerous burden. In l988, when he first ran for President, Gephardt flip-flopped on abortion. The others were true-blue, dyed-in-the-wool, never-wavered-from-the-faith pro-abortionists.

Gephardt "enjoyed" that distinction until a few weeks ago. That's when Kucinich hopped in.

I was in the parking lot of our grocery store, coming from church, when I heard the replay of Kucinich's answer to Tim Russert's Meet the Press inquires on abortion. What was so refreshing that when Kucinich started to recycle his one-answer-fits-all-inquiries response, Russert refused to give him free rein to build up a head of steam. Russert instead kept cutting through the rhetorical fog, clarifying the real issue for his audience--Kucinich's reverse twist on abortion so severe no doubt it wrenched the congressman's back.

The inspiration for Kucinich's flip-flop? You know, from a 90%+ rating for his votes on abortion-related issues from NRLC--and zero from NARAL--to a guy who can't get close enough to Kate Michelman?

One answer, alluded to in an op-ed Kucinich wrote for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, is to shift the blame to the Republicans: the "devil made me do it" excuse.

"I have found that the abortion-related legislation being brought to the House floor no longer reflects my position," he wrote. But a few minutes' reflection tells us that this pettifoggery is transparently false.