Dennis Kucinich's presidential campaign is hardly being taken seriously by the major media in this country, and that fact was on full display Tuesday night when NBC's Tim Russert took time from the Democratic candidates' debate to ask Kucinich's views on little green men.

Russert asked Kucinich about a recent claim by actress Shirley MacLaine, a longtime friend to the Ohio congressman, that he saw was very moved by an encounter with a UFO many years ago.

Kucinich acknowledged the encounter with a mysterious, hovering, triangular craft, but he left open whether he thought it was carrying space invaders.

"I did," he said. "It was an unidentified flying object, OK? It's like, it's unidentified; I saw something."

MacLaine wrote that Kucinich found the experience "extremely moving."

"The smell of roses drew him out to my balcony where, when he looked up, he saw a gigantic triangular craft, silent, and observing him," she wrote. "It hovered, soundless, for 10 minutes or so, and sped away with a speed he couldn't comprehend. He said he felt a connection in his heart and heard directions in his mind."

At the debate, Kucinich joked that he was planning to move his headquarters to Roswell, New Mexico, the site of a suspected UFO crash.

Kucinich compared himself to former President Jimmy Carter, who also claimed to have seen a UFO, and he joked that there were more people in the US who have had a close encounter with a strange flying object than who approve of President Bush's performance.

The following video is from MSNBC's DEMOCRATIC DEBATE, broadcast on October 30, 2007


New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson in a post debate interview with Chris Matthews, Richardson tells Matthews "I don't believe there are UFOs, but the government has not handled this well over the years. ... The government would help their case if they just declassified all their papers."

The following video is from MSNBC's DEMOCRATIC DEBATE, broadcast on October 30, 2007