Monday, July 14, 2008

Green Party Convention and Other Third Party Presidential Candidates We Missed

While the Alaska blogosphere has been talking about Alaska bloggers going to the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, I haven't seen any mention of the Green Party National Convention that took place this past weekend in Chicago. Here was their schedule.

According to CBS
(CBS/AP) Green Party delegates have selected former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia as the party's presidential nominee..
.
McKinney tapped Rosa Clemente, a hip-hop artist, journalist and activist, as her running mate.

McKinney, 53, entered politics by following her father, an Atlanta policeman who later served in the Georgia State House. She won her first seat in 1988, and later ran for and won a House race in 1992, becoming the first African American woman to represent Georgia in Congress. . .

Clamente, 36, born in the Bronx and of Puerto Rican descent, was raised in one of the nation's poorest communities, and became an activist and journalist angered by the Bush administration's response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"I choose to do this, not for me, but for my generation, my community and my daughter," she said of the nomination. "I don't see the Green Party as an alternative; I see it as an imperative."

I also didn't see any coverage of the Libertarian Convention that was held May 22-26 in Denver, where they also nominated a former congress person, Bob Barr. But I can't imagine that there weren't a couple of Alaska blogs that covered this. I just couldn't find any. Barr's campaign site biography begins this way:
Bob Barr is the 2008 Libertarian nominee for President of the United States. Previously, he represented the 7th District of Georgia in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, serving as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, as Vice-Chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and as a member of the Committee on Financial Services. He now practices law with the Law Offices of Edwin Marger, and runs a consulting firm, Liberty Strategies LLC, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and with offices in the Washington, D.C. area. Barr works tirelessly to help preserve our fundamental right to privacy and our other civil liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.
For more go to the Barr website.

The Libertarian vice president candidate is Wayne Allyn Root
Wayne Allyn Root is the 2008 Libertarian Party Vice Presidential nominee. Founder and Chairman of a successful small business, Wayne is a self-made businessman as well as an author and television producer. Wayne's professional life has focused in the realm of business, though he maintains a deep interest in the political sphere in addition to his commercial pursuits. This dynamic has created a political perspective similar to that of the average American, and the air of a true "citizen-politician."
The rest is at another page on the Barr site. It includes a short video too.

Who else are we missing?

MapsofWorld.com
offers these other third party candidates (how many third party candidates can you have? Seems like we need to start thinking about 4th, 5th, 6th party candidates, or just other party candidates): Constitution Party, Prohibition Party, Socialist Party.

The Constitution Party had its convention at the end of April, but their last online news update is from early May:
Constitution Party Chooses Baldwin - 5/18/2008
At its April 24-27 national convention in Kansas City, the Constitution Party nominated Florida pastor/political activist Charles O. Chuck Baldwin as its candidate for president of the United States. Baldwin received 383.8 votes to 125.7 garnered by Marylands Alan Keyes and a few given to minor candidates. During the...
After having been named the party’s nominee, he asked the convention to nominate Tennessee attorney Darrell Castle as his running mate, and his request was honored.

The Prohibition Party's website doesn't say a lot. They are against the sale of alcohol. The blog Third Party Watch says their presidential candidate Gene Amondson told a Florida reporter he would probably vote for McCain. One of the commenters noted,
I guess we can rule out that he was drunk when he said it.

From VoteSocialist2008.org, the nominees of the Socialist Party:
For President and Vice President of the United States: Brian Moore of Florida and Stewart Alexander of California.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with Erick. I was a registered Green Party member for years, but got tired of beating my head against the wall.

    ReplyDelete

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