Friday, September 11, 2009
Recruiting Candidates
It seems that Greens are always trying to recruit a candidate from outside the party as we don't have that many inside who have both the integrity that we demand and the name recognition to be successful. Even when we do bring a bigger name into the party, the fit is not always there, as witness the 2008 presidential campaign.
Now, we have an opportunity to try it again and this time I am fully supportive. Let's recruit Van Jones to run for California's Governor in 2010. It may be a long shot, but I can not think of a better choice, especially as his standing with the Obama Democrats is now somewhat diminished.
There is now a facebook based effort to draft Van Jones as a Green Party candidate for Governor. The list of those supporting this idea is growing and filled with Greens that I respect: Erika McDonald, Gary Ruskin, Genevieve Marcus, Ben Manski, etc. If you have a facebook account, now is a good time to go become a fan of Van. (note to self.. put a banner on this site that says "I'm a Fan of Van" and link it to the group.)
There are a number of thing that might argue against this.. not the least of which is Jones's long time association with the Center for American Progress, a John Podesta run think tank that provided many Obama Administration advisors. Remember that Podesta was one time Chief of Staff for Pres. Clinton. At lest Jones left the Center when joining the Obama team and now is a member of neither.
If we are going to make this happen, then we need to be talking to Jones quickly and have a long list of fans who are willing to donate time and money to make a real campaign.
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3 comments:
Great post, Wes, and I'm glad that you support the move to draft Van Jones. I helped start the "Draft Van Jones for governor of California" facebook page after reading the comments on GPCA's page, and it's encouraging that GPUS had the same idea.
We could really use some folks in California to help spread the word and build the following. We haven't figured out what the next step will be, but a letter-writing campaign or open petition seems the most likely.
Would you be willing to help us build the Draft Van Jones movement - sending invites, alerting email lists, and telling your friends in CA and elsewhere?
http://bit.ly/DraftVanJonesCA
Dave,
Right now, Draft Van Jone has 179 Fans. Most of them are NOT from California. We need to have at least 10K fans and over half of them from California. Yeah, it is a good idea, but we won't make it just staying on facebook.
It will take organized effort. So, who is taking the lead?
We're up to 214 fans for Draft Van Jones (and over 200 for Draft Matt Gonzalez for Congress - 2010). To keep from plateauing too early, we need supporters, especially in CA, to invite all their facebook friends. I don't think facebook is the way to make things happen, or even a particularly good way to make things happen; but it can show you if people will respond to an idea.
You're right that we need people organizing and putting some time into this idea. SKCM Curry has expressed interest, and I gather that Mike Feinstein is also a big proponent of the idea. Since I'm not in CA, I don't think I should take leadership of the idea, tho I'll gladly help find people who will.
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