In 2004, Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb was on the ballot in states containing 54.3% of the national presidential vote cast that year. In the places where he was on the ballot, he received .177% of the total vote cast in those places.
In 2008, Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney was on the ballot in states containing 69.7% of the national presidential vote cast that year. In the places where she was on the ballot, she received .173% of the total vote cast in those places.
Thus, the experience in these two presidential elections for the Green Party almost perfectly matches the Nader experience. In both cases, the candidate did a far better job of getting on ballots in 2008 than in 2004. But, in the areas with ballot status, the percentage of the vote received was virtually the same in both years.
These articles summed up the McKinney campaign as well as any, one from her old home state, and one from her new one.
http://www.ajc.com/search/content/2008/10/26/mckinney.html
http://www.humboldtsentinel.com/081103f.htm
Cobb-levels of support, indeed! The Green Party in this country is as good as dead.
Note though that McKinney received 20% more total votes than Cobb did in 2004, with the vote total going from 119,000 to 146,000, and her overall percentage of .12 was higher than the 2004 percentage of .10, also a 20% increase. I am proud to have worked on both campaigns.
Phil Sawyer Says:
December 20th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Gene Says:
December 19th, 2008 at 10:21 am
There’s no torch to be passed. Run if you want to run. You ought to thank Ralph and others for making that possible in face of the obstacles so thoroughly documented on this site.
Phil Sawyer adds:
What is needed is not the passing of the torch from one independent presidential candidate to another independent presidential candidate. What is necessary is the birth of a new, leftist, party of the people – or, at least, a new coalition that represents most (if not all) of the leftist parties that currently exist. I have been saying and writing that since 1974.
Phil Sawyer, California Elector for:
Eugene McCarthy for President in 1976;
Eugene McCarthy for President in 1988;
Ralph Nader for President in 2008.
You were PROUD of the McKinney campaign, Greg?
http://www.humboldtsentinel.com/081103f.htm
I’m proud of our party in both elections and hardly think we are “dead.”
Forming a new political party, as Phil Sawyer wishes, is harder than you think in this day and age, and any “new, leftist, party of the people” will face the same hardships that the Green Party has faced and continues to face. We need to continue to push for, in the court of public opinion as well as in the statehouses of America, electoral laws that are truly fair and democratic (that’s little d).
I predict the love-fest between American progressives, including those that deserted the Green Party’s candidates, and the Obama Administration will be short-lived, as the unfortunate curve to the center materialized, and they’ll soon come to their senses that true “change” requires more than just a Democrat in the Oval Office.
Phil Sawyer Says:
Gene Says:
December 19th, 2008 at 10:21 am
There’s no torch to be passed. Run if you want to run. You ought to thank Ralph and others for making that possible in face of the obstacles so thoroughly documented on this site.
Phil Sawyer adds:
What is needed is not the passing of the torch from one independent presidential candidate to another independent presidential candidate. What is necessary is the birth of a new, leftist, party of the people – or, at least, a new coalition that represents most (if not all) of the leftist parties that currently exist. I have been saying and writing that since 1974.
Phil Sawyer, California Elector for:
Eugene McCarthy for President in 1976;
Eugene McCarthy for President in 1988;
Ralph Nader for President in 2008.
Michal Mudd Says:
December 27th, 2008 at 11:19 am
I’m proud of our party [Green Party of the United States] in both elections and hardly think we are “dead.â€
Forming a new political party, as Phil Sawyer wishes, is harder than you think in this day and age, and any “new, leftist, party of the people†will face the same hardships that the Green Party has faced and continues to face. We need to continue to push for, in the court of public opinion as well as in the statehouses of America, electoral laws that are truly fair and democratic (that’s little d).
I predict the love-fest between American progressives, including those that deserted the Green Party’s candidates, and the Obama Administration will be short-lived, as the unfortunate curve to the center materialized [sic], and they’ll soon come to their senses that true “change†requires more than just a Democrat in the Oval Office.
Phil Sawyer responds:
Well, at the present time I am not involved in any efforts to start a new political party. I have been involved in such efforts over the decades and I know that what Michal says is true: it is very difficult. We did pretty darn well with the Reform Party of the United States, though.
Regarding the Green Party of the United States, I am actually a card-carrying member (and frequent donor, when possible), Michal. However, my political activism these days is with the Communist Party USA; and the Peace and Freedom Party of California (member of the State and Sacramento County Central Committees). You could correctly call me a watermelon green (green on the outside and red – very red – on the inside).
There has been a lot of talk, it seems, among many people in the Green Party of the US and the Peace and Freedom Party of California about a merger between PFP-CA and the watermelon greens. Just talk, though, and no action of any sort that I am aware of.
If someone else wants to take the leadership on starting a new party or coalition, I would be interested in following. I have been a leader down that path so many times in the past that I am not now interested in doing it myself. That all brings everything back to “square one.†Where is the strong, mass, Party of the People when we really need it the most? We are living in revolutionary times but there is no mass Party of the People to organize and lead the Revolution. So, we are left with the Democratic Party (the Party that Michal does not seem to think will bring “true ‘change’â€) as a main center of organization. Until we (â€progressive†independents) have a mass Party of our own, we need to accept the fact that most of the action is going to be happening within the Democratic Party. As V.I. Lenin wrote: “If you want to … win the sympathy and support of the ‘masses,’ you … must absolutely work wherever the masses are to be found.â€