DETROIT, July 23 (UPI) -- Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich has ended his long-shot presidential campaign and is throwing his support behind John Kerry.
"The word is unity," Kucinich told the Cleveland Plain Dealer after Kerry addressed the National Urban League conference in Detroit Thursday. Kucinich was the last of the Democratic candidates to formally withdraw from the race.
New York's the Rev. Al Sharpton suspended his campaign but left the once crowded race before taking a job as host of the Spike TV cable television show, "I Hate My Job."
Kucinich, D-Ohio, won fewer than 70 delegates to next week's Democratic National Convention in Boston. Kerry's more than 2,162 delegates clinched the party's nomination months ago but Kucinich continued his populist-progressive campaign, speaking at colleges, churches and at public forums. He asked independent Ralph Nader to back Kerry.
"Unity is essential to repair America," he said. "Unity is essential to set America on a new path."
