Qualifying Green Candidates

There is not a lot of time between now and the next election cycle... not nearly enough if California Greens have to think about candidate training as well as recruitment.  Depending on what happens with the special election for California's House of Representatives District 36 special election, we may even see a state wide special election for Secretary of State is Debra Bowen can defeat Janice Hahn for that soon to be vacated (by Jane Harman) Congressional seat. 

This just means that we need to bring more focus to recruiting candidates to run in 2012... and I would hope that Dr. Forrest Hill takes another look at the Secretary of State position if that opens up again. 

National
While California Greening is mostly about  this state, I also think that we need to consider the 2012 presidential election.  Securing the right candidate in 2012 could help us all, in every state, build the party.  Selecting the wrong candidate for the times, as we did in 2008, could make our hold harder to climb out of.

Just as was the case in 2008, a Green Party candidate for 2012 will have to be able to articulate an economic policy that make sense for all.   It goes without saying that any Green Candidate will have to articulate a position based on economic justice, they will also have to talk convincingly about ecological justice.  I have seen nothing from Cynthia McKinney that indicates she has the interest to do either.

The issues of peace and freedom of expression are important and having the correct understanding of these issues is mandatory for a Green Party candidate, but they will not win over new voters any time soon. 

A Green Candidate will also have to deal persuasively with the issue of corporate power, in particular the power of corporations to influence elections.  We can not simply pass this responsibility off to the David Cobb led Move to Amend or Russ Feingold's Progressives United.

I have my own list of people that I would like to see run: Winona LaDuke and Ben Manski are near the top.  I also know that there will be a scattering of not so serious candidates&hellip: exempt in their own minds.  We need to treat them kindly, hear them out looking for a gem in the rough, but keep our minds on finding a real candidate with broad appeal.

California:
For all state-wide or local candidates in California, the budget crises looms like tsunami about to crash on our heads.   Every politician has simplistic solutions that will not work.  I am not sure that anyone has "the answer." We will need all of our candidate to be able to articulate the options and what it means for the particular constituency they are addressing.  If they can't do that one basic thing, then we should not be supporting them from the GPCA.

In many ways, I hope to seen Greens run for school boards in the next election cycles.  Education takes up over 50% of the state budget.  When Sacrament tries to balance the budget, it will necessarily hit the schools harder than any other sector.  If we have any obligation to the future, it is to make sure that our children are educated and understand how to think.  This is what we are up against, a concerted effort to turn all local offices into incubators for future anti-tax corporate puppets and our children into acquiescent followers.

“We want to have a wide, deep victory,” he told a few hundred people gathered Sunday morning at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. “We want to take over school boards, fire boards, water boards, city councils.”

I feel that now, more than ever, Greens hold the future of CA in our hands We must not fail.

Room for a 3rd party?

Don Boring sent out a note regarding media bias and that sent me to the Zogby International web site to look for more information on their poll. I never did get to it, because I saw this one first. Room For Three? This poll has some very interesting facts (if any political poll deals with facts) that should make Green Party Candidates pay attention. Maybe it is even more important as we consider a candidate for President.

It’s a question I get everywhere—whenever I do speeches, make an appearance or do an interview: What are the chances of a new third party? One of my pat responses is that there’s always a centrist political party waiting to be formed. Generally, there’s a group of unaffiliated voters concerned that both political parties may go too far to the fringes. These are people who voted for Ross Perot and find the “maverick” John McCain appealing.

This perception triggered Zogby to do a poll in mid February and the results rather contradict the conventional wisdom that Zogby handed out above. As a result of this poll, he concluded that "The likely third-party voter has shifted to the far right."

Overall, he also found that most Democrats were pleased with the choices they have for President. Of course, the kos inspired bloggers are not interested in Clinton or Biden, but they seem to love Edwards and Obama. Many Republicans are not satisfied with their choices. While Giuliani seems to be in control there is a long time to go and slip ups will happen.

What does this mean for Green? It is hard to say. I don't think that positioning the part to the left of the Democrats is going to win many votes. In fact, it may be a way to lose rather than gain.

A Green Candidate, in order to take advantage of this opportunity would have to offer concrete solutions to this (city, county, state, nation)'s problems. That means understanding a few key issues (health care, Iraq, global warming, energy) and being able to sell everyone that you have better solutions than anyone. That, is a hard task, especially for a presidential candidate.

Zogby started his discussion about a new political party in the center. There seems to be no getting around the fact that political pundits line everyone up in a two dimensional space. It makes it hard for Greens to pay any attention to those key value: decentralization, community based economics, personal and global responsibility where we may have more appeal to traditional Republicans than most Greens want to admit.

I have yet to see any Green Party candidate for national office who could address these issues in a meaningful manner. Every one who is even close is someone that enthusiastic Greens just hope would switch from the Democrats (Gore, Kucinich, McKinney) to the Greens. It isn't likely.