Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich had a stage all to himself last night as he broadcast a Manchester, N.H., town hall meeting live at the same time the G.O.P. candidates were competing for the spotlight in Florida.

The congressman from Ohio focused on the theme “Defending the Constitution” during the 90-minute event on New Hampshire public access television and the Internet.

“If you give me your vote, I’ll give you your country back,” he said.

He spoke at length about his desire to protect First Amendment rights and his desire to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney for leading the country to war, a motion that is now sitting in congressional committee. If citizens wanted to help speed up the impeachment process, Mr. Kucinich urged them to contact their member of Congress, the House Judiciary Committee and House leaders.

One member of the audience of about 200 asked him why health care isn’t mandated by the Constitution.

“Well, I just happen to have my copy of the Constitution with me,” Mr. Kucinich replied. He pulled it out from his pocket and read aloud the Preamble — emphasizing the line “promote the general welfare.” Health and welfare are almost synonymous, he said before detailing his plan to make the health care system not for profit. Every American would receive free medical and dental care under his plan.



Mr. Kucinich also addressed his outrage at the way anyone labeled an enemy combatant to the United States can be put in prison and denied his or her constitutional rights to habeas corpus and trial by jury, and is subject to cruel and unusual punishment. Restoring these laws is “fundamental” to the nation’s “moral compass.”

Citizens should under no circumstances be subject to a “thought crime bill,” where they’d be arrested for thinking about committing an terrorist act. “The right to free speech would have to include the right to think … hello!” he said, adding that prosecuting thought crimes would infringe on the Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.

Under a Kucinich administration, there would be no government wiretapping, eavesdropping, torture, rendition or private military contractors like Blackwater in Iraq. In fact, he would bring home all troops immediately.

The town hall meeting host asked Mr. Kucinich what he would ask the G.O.P. candidates if he were submitting a question to them on YouTube.

“I would ask the Republican candidates, ‘Do you really believe that this country has the right to attack Iran?’ ”

Rising tensions with Iran were not addressed during the actual CNN/YouTube event.

As for the last Democratic debate, which also aired on CNN, Mr. Kucinich said he wasn’t disappointed he didn’t receive more time from moderator Wolf Blitzer to state his arguments.

“It’s not about the quantity of time, but the quality of time,” he said. To emphasize his point, Mr. Kucinich referred to Paul Potts, a run-of-the-mill cell phone salesman who became an opera sensation after moving an audience to tears during the tryout for British reality show “Britain’s Got Talent.”

Mr. Kucinich also plugged his education plan, which would entail severely cutting the defense budget and making education from age three through four years of college free for all Americans who agreed to commit themselves to two years of public service. He would also create more job opportunities for the “differently abled,” carefully avoiding the word “disabled,” which Mr. Kucinich said he doesn’t like.

In perhaps a subtle swipe at Barack Obama, Mr. Kucinich pointed out that a blind supporter gave him the flag pin on his lapel. The pin says “U.S.A.” in Braille.

The Web site kept a count on the number of online forum viewers at every given moment. Mr. Kucinich took the state with about 220 online viewers, made it to 371 at one point and left the stage with 352 in the Web audience.

A CBS News/New York Times poll in mid-November showed Mr. Kucinich with 5 percent of the New Hampshire Democratic vote, with 18 percent undecided.