DETROIT (AP) - Assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian lost his bid for Congress and reacted by saying the political system is "too corrupt."
Kevorkian, an independent candidate, received 2.7 percent in the suburban Detroit congressional district won by Democrat Gary Peters, who ousted Republican Rep. Joe Knollenberg.
The 80-year-old Kevorkian said he learned about the political system but doesn't plan to seek office again.
"This system is too corrupt. This system has to be completely overhauled from the bottom up," Kevorkian told The Associated Press. "You've got to get rid of the party system."
During his underfunded campaign, Kevorkian promoted the Ninth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The measure protects rights not explicitly specified elsewhere in the Constitution, which Kevorkian said protects choices such as dying through assisted suicide and not wearing a seat belt.
Nicknamed "Dr. Death," Kevorkian was released from a state prison last year after serving eight years for helping Thomas Youk, a 52-year-old Oakland County man with Lou Gehrig's disease, die in 1998.
Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999. He claims to have helped at least 130 people die from 1990 until 1998. |