Rep. Dennis Kucinich is, by most accounts, the most unconventional of the nine Democratic presidential contenders.

Now, the Ohioan can probably boast having the most unconventional campaign manager.

Kucinich recently hired Dorothy (Dot) Maver to run his campaign. She is on leave from her position on the faculty of Polaris College in Denmark, and has no previous experience managing political campaigns.

Maver, Kucinich’s fourth campaign manager, told the Cleveland Free Times newspaper last week that she decided to help the Congressman’s campaign after hearing him speak at a peace seminar in Vermont last year.

“I spoke to him then and said if he decided to run for president I would help in any way I could,” she said.

Maver had been part of Kucinich’s advance team since July. According to the newspaper, Maver will be based in the campaign’s Cleveland headquarters and is working hard to assure Kucinich’s constituents and local supporters that the Congressman has not forgotten about them.

A League for Porcari. The League of Conservation Voters has named Charles Porcari its new director of communications.

Prior to joining LCV, Porcari served in several government positions at the state level, including communications director to then-Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening (D), director of communications at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and press secretary to then-Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D).

His brother, John Porcari, also served several roles in the Glendening administration, including a stint as secretary of Transportation.

Chuck Porcari, an ex-journalist, also served as press officer to former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo (D) and as Capitol bureau chief for United Press International in Albany.

A Big Score for Hostetler. Ron Hostetler (R), a former college football star now running for the House in Pennsylvania’s 17th district, has hired Ed Goeas, president and CEO of the Tarrance Group, to serve as his pollster and lead consultant.

“Goeas is a byword for victory,” Hostetler said in a statement. “I’m flattered that he’d consider taking on my campaign.”

The Tarrance Group serves as pollster to four Republican governors, nine Republican Senators and more than 40 GOP House Members. Goeas also co-directs the bipartisan Battleground poll and serves as one of two pollsters for U.S. News & World Report.

Hostetler, a teacher and brother of former NFL quarterback Jeff Hostetler, is one of a quartet of Republicans vying to take on Rep. Tim Holden (D) in the Harrisburg-based district.

Help Wanted. Speaking of Pennsylvania Republicans, Rep. Bill Shuster will be bidding adieu this month to his press secretary, Angelo Terrana. After two years in the Congressman’s office, Terrana is taking a position at Hill & Knowlton, the global public affairs and public relations company.

New Gig for Michigan Delegation Vet. The National Breast Cancer Coalition, a grassroots advocacy organization, has hired Kimberly Love for the newly created position of director of government relations and public policy.

Most recently, Love was the deputy legislative director for Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), serving with Stabenow since the lawmaker entered Congress in 1997. She has also worked for two other Michigan Democrats, Sen. Carl Levin and Rep. John Dingell.

Hired Guns for GOP Contenders. Two Republican House candidates who are running in competitive primaries have begun to line up their political teams.

In California’s open-seat race for the 3rd district, former state Attorney General Dan Lungren (R) — who also spent 10 years in Congress — has hired Wayne Johnson of the Sacramento firm Johnson & Clark to be his general consultant. Johnson is a veteran of many California political skirmishes.

Rick Fowler, vice president of USAA, an insurance firm, will be finance chairman for Lungren, who is battling state Sen. Rico Oller (R) to replace retiring Rep. Doug Ose (R). Lungren has used Frank Luntz as his pollster in the past, but Luntz is limiting his political work this cycle.

One state to the north, high-tech consultant Goli Ameri (R) is assembling her team in Oregon’s 1st district.

Ameri has hired Tony Marsh of Landover, Md.-based Marsh Copsey + Scott to be her general consultant and media consultant. Chuck Adams, of Adams & Co., an Oregon firm, is handling direct mail and coalition work.

Full-time campaign staffers include two veteran state House operatives. Amy Davidson, a former aide to the Oregon House Speaker, is serving as campaign coordinator. Stan Pulliam, a former legislative aide, is political director.

Ameri is squaring off against stock broker Tim Phillips in the 2004 Republican primary. The winner takes on Rep. David Wu (D).

Turning to a Former Colleague. Lisa Quigley, one of two Democrats running to replace retiring Rep. Cal Dooley (D) in California’s Central Valley, has hired a former colleague to be her campaign manager.

Quigley, Dooley’s long-time chief of staff, has hired Gabe Camarillo, another ex-

Dooley staffer, to run her campaign. Camarillo also worked for Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and practiced law in Texas.

Quigley is vying with former state Sen. Jim Costa for the Democratic nomination.

Youth Movement. Rick Veenstra was unanimously elected chairman of the Federation of Illinois Young Republicans earlier this month. Veenstra is a recent law school graduate who is also a former chairman of the Illinois College Republican Federation.