Maryland Green Party to send diverse delegation to Chicago
From the Maryland Greens:
At its Annual Assembly on Saturday, the Maryland Green Party concluded its Presidential primary election. 16 delegates were selected to represent Maryland at the Green Party of the United States’ nominating convention in Chicago.
Cynthia McKinney, former Congresswoman from Georgia, will be represented by 6 delegates. Jesse Johnson, filmmaker and former Senatorial candidate from West Virgina, received 4 delegates. Kent Mesplay, an environmental inspector from California, and Kat Swift, a Green Party organizer from Texas, each received 3.
The Green Party of the United States will meet in Chicago from July 11-13 to nominate a Presidential candidate. One of the four candidates must receive a majority of 836 possible delegates cast at the Presidential Nominating Convention at the Chicago Symphony Center.
The Maryland Green Party also elected officers to its Coordinating Council. Maria Allwine, 2007 Green Party candidate for Baltimore City Council President, joined Rob Savidge of Annapolis as the party’s two Co-Chairs.
Beth Hufnagel of Elkridge was elected Treasurer. Brian Bittner of Bel Air was elected Membership Coordinator. Mike Depew of Towson was elected Recording Secretary. Karen Jennings of Annapolis, Patsy Allen of Towson, Tim Willard of Kensington, and John Stith of Mount Rainier were elected to represent Maryland on the Green Party National Committee.
The Maryland Green Party also announced the nomination of Gordon Clark, of Silver Spring, to represent the Green Party in November’s District Eight Congressional race against Chris Van Hollen, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Clark founded the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance and has worked as a coordinator for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and Public Citizen’s Congress Watch.
Michael Anestos, of Bethesda, was also nominated by the Green Party as a candidate for Circuit Court Judge in Montgomery County.
May 6th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
It won’t do them much good in the end, no matter how “diverse” they are. Between Obama as the Dem candidate and an extra charged Libertarian and Constitution Party, they will be very lucky to break 150,000 votes for another sixth place finish. The influx of Ron Paul votes to both Barr or Ruwart and Baldwin will widen the gap between the Greens finish and the rest of the third parties.
May 6th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
What difference does it make whom the Libertarian and Constitution parties nominate or whom Ron Paul fanatics end up supporting? Cynthia McKinney appeals to an utterly and completely different segment of the electorate, as does the Green Party itself. If the GP manages ballot access in more states than David Cobb was on in 2004, that alone will practically guarantee an increase over last time, and adding in Cynthia McKinney’s massively greater name recognition and support within the urban African-American community makes your assumptions rather specious. The Green Party’s problem this year is the same as last time – Ralph Nader – not the Libertarian Party and certainly not the Constitution Party.
Getting back to the topic of this thread, the MGP has a very strong Congressional candidate in Gordon Clark, possibly one of the strongest GP House candidates ever. The Republican Party is very weak in the MD 8th district so the Clark campaign could generate a lot of long term interest in and support for the local GP.
May 6th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
The Greens are gonna have a tough time for two reasons with McKinney: Nader and Obama. Nader, like in 2004, remains the natural choice most liberals will turn to for a protest vote. If there is any significant bolting from Hillary supporters angry at an Obama nomination, they’ll go for Nader.
Obama himself spells trouble for the Greens as well. Having his own popular fan base among youth and cultivating an Afro-American identity, he will easily capture the “identity politics” votes from minorities and others on the left.
I predict the Greens come up short this year, and maybe even have a worse performance than last year. They will only appeal to hardcore party members and some independents. Only trouble is, the party has fewer members and has deteriorated in a lot of states since 2004. What they might gain from McKinney’s slight name recognition in left circles, they’ll lose in fewer total Green voters nationwide.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Mr. Independant:
I seriously doubt that Obama will have much effect on any prospective Green voter. Many folks are tiring of Obama’s willingness to throw anybody under the bus that gets in his way to power.
And it didn’t start with his throwing his Pastor under the bus. He has a long history of such action, going back to his first state senate campaign.
Nader, OTOH, may have an effect in states where he does actually get on the ballot. And I’ll bet he gets on fewer ballots this year than ever before.
And, BTW, I am not a Green, but an interested Libertarian bystander.
PEACE
Steve
May 7th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
It remains to be seen how many ballots Nader is on this year but as of yet he has better ballot access than he did in 2004 at this point. Things are also looking slightly promising in CA as he won the Peace and Freedom Party Primary although it is unbinding. He may have an arguement for their ballot line in California which would be a major victory as he was not on the ballot in 04.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Also as noted in the polls a number of the independents or Democrats may defect to either McCain or Nader if their favorite Democrat is not the nominee. In PA for instance Mr.Nader could take as much as 17% of the registered Democrat vote.