Abstract

Nader Loses the Greens

The striking distinction between the United States Green Party's national gathering in late June 2004 and the Democratic and Republican national conventions, which will come in the summer, was the element of suspense. Close to 800 Green delegates arrived in Milwaukee united on basic issues--opposition to the war in Iraq and corporate hegemony, enthusiasm for organic standards, mass transit and instant-runoff voting--but uncertain about who would carry the party's national banner into the fall election season. Faced with a choice between nominating one of their own, anti-corporate activist David Cobb, and endorsing Ralph Nader, the party's 1996 and 2000 candidate who this year is running as an independent, Greens had to sort through a dizzying array of electoral and emotional options. After disregarding the Greens during much of this year's campaign, Nader and his followers within the party made a late bid for an endorsement that would have provided access to many of the party's twenty-three ballot lines and to its substantial volunteer base. Nader selected a prominent Green, former California gubernatorial candidate Peter Camejo, as his vice presidential running mate and then phoned in an "appearance" to a "Run Ralph Run" rally on the eve of the vote. But in the second round of balloting, delegates gave Cobb the nomination.