“We woke up to great news today; we won thirty percent of the vote in Hawaii,” Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich proclaimed to a standing-room only crowd at the University of Massachusetts’ Campus Center Ballroom yesterday.

The Ohio Congressman put UMass on a list of campaign stops through Western Massachusetts, which included Smith College and Springfield City Hall.

The candidate spoke on a range of issues at the UMass rally, but the focus of his speech was the on-going war in Iraq. In 2002, Kucinich voted against the war resolution in Congress.

“If there’s a one-word reason why we went into Iraq, what is it?” Kucinich asked the audience.

“Oil!” the audience responded.

“This administration lied to lead this country into war, which is why they should be kicked out of the White House,” Kucinich said.

Kucinich spoke out against privatizing the military contracts for rebuilding Iraq, and calling for more diplomatic help from the United Nations.

“We need to ask the U.N. to handle the military contracts so there aren’t any Halliburton sweethearts,” he said, referring to the company overseeing the military contracts whose former CEO was Vice President Dick Cheney.

Kucinich also spoke of the possibility of a draft, which he thinks is very likely if the U.S. Armed Forces remain in Iraq. He claimed that “40 percent of the troops in Iraq are national reservists or non-combatants,” and that many of the soldiers that are serving are staying for longer periods than they were originally told.

Kucinich is portraying himself as the alternative democratic candidate. He sites his voting record on Iraq as proof of leadership in the fight against other democrats and republicans on what he deems “an unjust war.”

At one point he performed an improvisation of George W. Bush in a mock debate against Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry to show how his stance on the war differs from that of rival Kerry. His 30-second performance pointed out that Kerry and Bush hold similar positions on the war. The Bush character was pointing out that John Kerry had voted with him on the U.S. going to war and agreed with him on his position to keep American troops in Iraq.

The Presidential hopeful included speaking on a few other key issues in his speech, including removing the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Just days ago on his campaign web site, he blamed NAFTA and the WTO for moving many American high-tech and manufacturing jobs overseas. He sited an Akron Beacon Journal article that said, “Policy Matters Ohio, a liberal Cleveland think tank, said Ohio lost 14,653 jobs from 1999 through 2003 as a direct result of NAFTA.”

“I will act swiftly to cancel NAFTA and the WTO,” he said at his speech.

Another key issue in the Kucinich campaign has been a proposed single-payer healthcare system. Before the candidate could answer a question on the issue, a woman in the crowd appeared in front of the microphone and pointed out how the U.S. is one of the last countries without a universal-style healthcare system.

“Right now, there is a third-world country about 90 miles off the shore of the United States that has a single-payer healthcare system,” the woman said, before asking the candidate how he feels about a universal health care system

Kucinich responded to the woman by pointing out the difference between health care and health insurance.

“We have a for-profit system that takes one dollar out of every four dollars we spend on health insurance for themselves,” he said. “This equals $400 billion per year.”

The Massachusetts Daily Collegian was able to meet up with Congressman Kucinich after the rally. When asked how he would pay for his proposed plan for free college tuition, he answered by saying the money would be taken out of the additional $87 billion President Bush spent on defense.

“I would cancel the tax cuts to the top brackets and revoke the extra $87 billion the President spent on the defense budget,” he said. “This would be included in the $60 billion I would spend on education.”

The education plan would be applicable for any American student who wishes to attend any public institution, college or university.

Part of Kucinich’s plan for education includes his “Universal Pre-Kindergarten Act,” which would build on existing federal and state pre-kindergarten initiatives. His plan would offer pre-kindergarten for people voluntarily and free of charge.

Kucinich has been consistently near last in the polls throughout his campaign, except in Maine and Washington where he grabbed a third-place win. His first second-place win happened Tuesday in Hawaii’s caucus. He came in second place, beating North Carolina Senator John Edwards. He received eight delegates from Hawaii, which now brings his total delegate count up to 10.