In an interview with Cleveland's Plain Dealer newspaper, the liberal six-term House of Representatives member said he was quitting the race and would make a formal announcement on Friday.

'I will be announcing that I'm transiting out of the presidential campaign,' Mr Kucinich said. 'I'm making that announcement tomorrow about a new direction.'

Mr Kucinich has received little support for his presidential bid. He got 1 per cent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary, the first in the US election season, and was shut out in the Iowa caucuses a few days before that.

Mr Kucinich, 61, also faces a tough fight to hold onto his other job - US congressman. He faces four challengers in the Democratic congressional primary on March 4, and earlier this week he made an urgent appeal on his Web site for money for his re-election.

His decision comes a month after his youngest brother, Perry Kucinich, was found dead.

Mr Kucinich brought the same sense of idealism to his second run for president as he did in his first bid. He said he was entering the race again because the Democratic Party was not pushing hard enough to end the Iraq war.

Since winning a seat in Congress in 1996, Mr Kucinich has been one of its most outspoken liberals, opposing international trade agreements like the North America Free Trade Agreement and marching with protesters during a meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle.

As a presidential candidate, he proposed a Department of Peace and supported universal health care and gay marriage. He also pushed for impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney.

At a debate in October, mr Kucinich delivered one of the night's lighter moments when he confirmed seeing an unidentified flying object at the home of actress Shirley MacLaine. With a smile, he said he would open a campaign office in Roswell, New Mexico, home to many alleged UFO sightings.

Mr Kucinich married Ms Elizabeth Harper, a British, in 2005. -- AP