Green Party Politics on Super Tuesday
Babblemur provided some thoughts pertaining to Ralph Nader’s potential presidential bid. Additionally, he provided some good insight into the Super Tuesday primary process for Green Party candidates:
What will be interesting to observe is what impact the Feb. 5 primary will have on a possible Nader campaign. Ralph Nader is on the ballot in California in the California Green Party’s primary, along with Cynthia McKinney, Jared Ball, Jesse Johnson, Kent Mesplay, Kat Swift, and Elaine Brown. The fact that California has 168 of the 836 delegates (over 20%) that will nominate the Green Party nominee on July 13 in Chicago makes California pretty critical to both Nader and McKinney in securing the Green Party nomination.The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts also has a state run primary on Feb 5, and their ballot will feature both Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader, as well as Jared Ball, Kent Mesplay, Kat Swift and Elaine Brown.
On Feb 5 in Illinois, Ralph Nader is being represented by a “stand in” candidate, Howie Hawkins, with the understanding that a vote for Howie Hawkins is a vote for Ralph Nader. Also on the ballot in Illinois is Cynthia McKinney, Jared Ball, and Kent Mesplay. Kat Swift and Jesse Johnson could not get the signatures necessary by state law.
On Feb 5 in Arkansas, the candidates on the Green Party ballot are Cynthia McKinney, Jared Ball, Kent Mesplay and Kat Swift. No Ralph Nader as he had not declared his candidacy.
All in all, almost one third of the Green Party delegate will be determined on February 5 between these four states. The only other government run primary for the Greens is in DC on Feb 12, all of the other state green parties will use either membership mailed ballots (like Wisconsin), party organized caucuses, or some other party managed method of determining presidential preference and selecting delegates. In Wisconsin, ballots will be mailed to dues paying members around the first of March, to be returned and counted in time for the Spring Nominating Convention in Oshkosh on March 29. Because the Wisconsin Greens design and print their own ballot, the final list of names will not be determined until February 12, but currently the names that will appear are Jesse Johnson, Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, and Kat Swift. Jared Ball is questionable as he has appeared to have dropped out of the race to endorse Cynthia McKinney. Ralph Nader is also questionable because he hasn’t declared his intention to seek the Green Party nomination.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:35 pm
honestly the best bet is to have nader declare, run in these first three states. this will draw some media attention between nader and mckinney, then nader can endorse mckinney and run as vp. he will still get plenty of media play in the VP spot. mckinney is a fresh face and may be able to make some huge inroads with the black community if hilary is the dems pick.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Id bet McKinney is going to wrap up every single delegate.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Greens endorse the LP ticket. Get one green OR one libertarian candidate on ALL other ballots. First come first served on the honor system. Mix in some medical marijuanna & shake & bake. Viola. Progressive government! This is the best you can do. Purists=losers. Nader & Ron Paul=losers.
February 1st, 2008 at 5:56 pm
I’m a member of the GP of Ohio. Anyone know how I can cast a vote? I haven’t received any information.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Viola?
February 1st, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Nader really needs to shrink his ego. He’s already ran for president 4 times before. Can’t he pass on the torch to someone new in the environmentalist movement.
February 1st, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Wait, third parties have primaries?
February 1st, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Nader will run with Gore on a Green independent ticket and win the 2008 election by exposing and fighting against the corporatist Empire hiding behind this facade of ‘Vichy America’, which by November will have thrown the US into a second Great Depression and a greatly expanded war in the Middle East.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:03 pm
“Nader will run with Gore on a Green independent ticket and win…”. This is wrong on so many levels.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Susan, interesting that a purist loser would not get the sarcasm.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Sorry Stephen I meant to cross-post this here but we just had a baby so I’ve been tight on time. Thank you for posting it.
Feb 5 should be very revealing for the Greens this year. While McKinney is very popular among many politically active Greens, Nader was responsible for turning many current Greens into activists in the first place. Will voters vote for Nader out of loyalty? Will voters vote for McKinney because they want to move past 2004?
Those who vote in the Green Primaries are going to have a disproportionate influence as I predict the overall number of voters in these four green party primaries will be low.
But there are a lot of questions.
Will Nader gather more votes than McKinney? Will he run as a Green if he does? Or if he looses to McKinney in a Green Primary, what would that say to his potential Independent run if he can’t even win a Green Party Primary in California? What if he wins California’s Primary, looses the others, but still runs as an Independent? Will the Green Party nominate someone who doesn’t seek their nomination?
All I can say is that I hope I get to be a delegate to the Green Party convention in Chicago this July, it should be very interesting!
BTW, in regards to Ohio I’ll check on that and try to post something here soon.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:05 pm
“Susan, interesting that a purist loser would not get the sarcasm.”
No Milnes,she’s referring to the fact that you misspelled “Voila”.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:30 pm
““Nader will run with Gore on a Green independent ticket and win…”. This is wrong on so many levels.”
Amazing that I agree with Bob Milnes on this. Hey, I think I see the four horsemen coming.
February 2nd, 2008 at 3:03 am
Trent, oh, how imperfect of me! Endless apologies to ALL the losers.
February 2nd, 2008 at 3:35 am
Are the GP candidates actively campaigning in the respective states?
By that, I mean are they campaigning to the electorate or are they merely campaigning at the state conventions and at regular GP meetings?
For the most part, LP candidates only go to state conventions and other LP meetings, even where there is a primary. It’s preaching to the choir, but it is the choir that gives the money.
If there is active campaigning, it would be interesting to see how many converts are brought in.
PEACE
Steve
February 2nd, 2008 at 8:29 am
The Green Party has MANY ballot lines and those states have Primaries and Cynthia McKinney is on the ballot or in the process of getting on the ballot in those states.
Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney speaks to the
Ecological Crisis
On January 12th, Cynthia McKinney participated in a Presidential Debate organized by Greens in the San Fransisco Bay Area. These are a few of the radical common sense ideas advanced by Ms. McKinney as her priorities, once elected.
And the campaign web site
Ecological Crisis
February 2nd, 2008 at 8:30 am
McKinney on the Ecological Crisis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jJtSkQlhqI
February 2nd, 2008 at 9:23 am
In Wisconsin we have had Kent Mesplay come to Milwaukee in November at the state membership fall meeting, Cynthia McKinney came through Madison and Milwaukee as part of a long multistate tour, and we are working on bringing Jared Ball in Feb or Mar.
Jesse Johnson and Kat Swift were both in Minnesota in early Jan, and both were at the San Francisco debate. Kent Mesplay has been getting to as many states that he can, mostly state party meetings at this point since that is where the delegates are for the most part. Jared Ball has been touring with Head Roc in California and the west coast, possibly in Illinois.
Cynthia McKinney has been the most active campaigner, in December she campaigned in Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and I might be forgetting some. She has also campaigned in Maine, California, and several other states.
So there is some campaigning going on, but I would say that the bulk of it at this rate is reaching out to Greens more than the “general public”.
February 2nd, 2008 at 11:14 am
I wouldn’t be surprised if Nader won California and Massachusetts on name recognition alone. In California, though, the fact that McKinney put a statement in the voters’ guide identifying herself as a former Member of Congress and listing several of her accomplishments and efforts, while Nader did not have a statement at all, could have an impact. My impression, not having ever lived in California, is that the voters’ guide really does make a difference there, at least on the margins.
February 2nd, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Don’t forget that both Cynthia Mckinney and Ralph Nader will be on the Peace and Freedom party primary in California too!
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:23 pm
If Nader had been the Green nominee in 2004, America would have had an opportunity to vote against the war in Iraq and many thousands of lives would have been saved. The Democrats made sure this did not happen when he was forced to get on ballots as an independent. It’s time to correct 2004’s mistake and vote Nader.
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:29 pm
If Nader had been the Green nominee in 2004, America would have had an opportunity to vote against the war in Iraq and many thousands of lives would have been saved.
A good deal of America could vote for Nader in 2004. Additionally, in most states they had other anti-war candidates to choose from, including Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party, David Cobb of the Green Party and Michael Peroutka of the Constitution Party.
February 2nd, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Viola?
It appears that Milnes is playing the world’s largest violin over the failure of his progressive alliance strategy.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:25 am
rmthinks Says:
February 2nd, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Don’t forget that both Cynthia Mckinney and Ralph Nader will be on the Peace and Freedom party primary in California too!
Yes, you are correct: Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader are both on the presidential primary ballot of the Peace and Freedom Party of California. I have already voted by mail and my vote went to Ralph Nader. If we had an instant runoff style of ballot, my second choice vote would have gone to Cynthia McKinney and my third choice vote would have gone to Brian Moore.
Phil Sawyer, Member
Sacramento County Central Committee
Peace and Freedom Party of California
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:46 am
matt, the strategy did not fail. it has not been tried. I guess losers know what to try & what not to try.
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I would be more enthusiastic about Nader if he actually was a member of the Green Party. At least McKinney has joined up and knows what the party stands for. Nader just wants to use the Greens (again).
By the way, “viola” instead of “voila” is an old, old joke, implying that the usage is sarcastic/satirical. Walt Kelly used it several times in Pogo (my favorite was where he ended up with a metafictional character (ie she was fictional even inside the comic strip) callet “Viola Voila, Girl Bug.”
February 3rd, 2008 at 4:29 pm
I hope Kat Swift does well. I’ve looked at the candidate’s webpages and their stances on the issues and I like Swift the most. Even though I’m a Democrat, it would be nice to see her win.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:15 am
W D Wallis,
That may be true—but Milnes isn’t well-educated enough or clever enough to use “viola” in that manner. Rather, it was a spelling error.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:23 am
I only wish the (coroporate) media would at least acknowledge that the Green party even had candidates featured on 4 state’s primaries today!!
So far it’s basically those candidates the media has chosen for us getting the coverage, even on our lovely national public tv operation.
At least I feel a case of empathy toward the Dems in my own state (NM) which had a Dem primary today which hasn’t even been mentioned on national news at all!
Play that “voila.”