Congressman and Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, the only candidate who film-maker Michael Moore says is "100 per cent on board" with his call for a national, not-for-profit health care system, will be here tonight for the premiere of Moore's powerful new movie, SiCKO, which is opening all across the country.


"The other leading candidates are unlikely to be anywhere near a theater showing SiCKO tonight," the Kucinich campaign said in a statement, "because their health care proposals ensure that for-profit insurance companies, health care providers, and pharmaceutical companies will continue to play a major and very lucrative role in the U.S. system." http://kucinich.us/node/4652


As has been widely reported, the Moore film's blistering indictment of the American health care system has made Presidential candidates other than Kucinich "uncomfortable" because their plans retain the for-profit elements that Moore pinpoints as the real problem in the U.S. system. Moore last week endorsed House Resolution 676, a bill co-authored by Kucinich and Congressman John Conyers. Kucinich has made his universal, single-payer, not-for-profit plan a cornerstone of his campaign.


Moore questioned recently whether the $3 million or so in campaign contributions from individuals and groups with ties to the for-profit industry have affected the other candidates' positions. He said he plans to ask the other candidates to sign a pledge agreeing to embrace health care reforms that remove for-profit entities from the equation.


Kucinich and his wife Elizabeth will arrive at the downtown BayWalk entertainment and shopping complex about 8:30 p.m. tonight. On Saturday, they will participate in the St. Petersburg Pride 2007 parade, which steps off at about 10 a.m. Saturday night, Kucinich will participate in a President forum sponsored by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) at Disney's Contemporary Resort in Orlando.