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State Green Parties Plan Strategies for 2004 Presidential Race. |
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Thursday, October 30, 2003 Contacts: The decision will be made at the 2004 Green Party convention in Milwaukee; local Greens hold forums and campaign strategy and candidate forums across the U.S.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Several state Green Parties affiliated with the Green Party of the United States have begun to hold party forums and candidate debates in preparation for the 2004 presidential election. The national Presidential Nominating Convention of the Green Party of the United States will take place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 24-27. "The decision will be made democratically at the convention with the participation of all the state Green Parties that are accredited with the Green Party of the United States, through the votes of their state party delegates," explained Ben Manski, Wisconsin Green and co-chair of the national party. "As in every political party, there are different opinions about who the nominee should be and the best campaign strategy but the party will unite at the convention. That's how parties work." At their annual fall meeting in Whitewater, members of the Wisconsin Green Party unanimously endorsed a statement calling on the Green Party of the United States to run a strong presidential campaign in 2004, while also maintaining focus on races at the local, state, and federal levels. In so doing, Wisconsin Greens joined the Green Party of Michigan in staking out such a position early on in the Green Party primaries. The Rhode Island Green Party held a forum on October 19; Greens from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island met on September 28, with a strong majority favoring a Green presidential run. Iowa Greens held a strategy forum in August, with similar results. Five Green candidates have declared for 2004: David Cobb (from Texas, currently residing in California), Paul Glover (New York), Kent Mesplay (California), Carol Miller (New Mexico), and Lorna Salzman (New York). Ralph Nader, the party's 2000 candidate, has told the party that he will announce his intentions by January 1st; former Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney remains a possible candidate. At the national party's July meeting in Washington, D.C., nearly all state delegates, national officers, and activists who attended expressed a preference for preparing to run a presidential candidate. These discussions are nonbinding, and further strategy discussions are continuing in some parts of the country. The Green Party of the United States held the 2000 convention at which Mr. Nader was nominated and is recognized by the Federal Election Commission as the national committee of the Green Party. 43 state Green Parties are now accredited with the Green Party of the United States. MORE INFORMATION The Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org search:
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