McKinney hasn't revealed her plans, but Green Party officials say many of her views make her a perfect fit either to lead the ticket or serve as 2000 nominee Ralph Nader's vice presidential choice, should he decide to run again. More than 50 Green Party activists from across the nation traveled to Georgia to help McKinney in the final days of her primary campaign against Denise Majette.
Adam Eidinger, who is the Green Party's nominee for "shadow representative" in Washington D.C., which doesn't have a voting member of Congress, said the odds are "50/50" that McKinney would switch parties before she leaves office in January.
"She's very interested," Eidinger said. "I've asked her to her face twice if she would run. I told her, 'You are on the very short list of people in this country the Green Party would like to draft to run for president. Would you do it?' Her exact words were: 'Sure."'
Alright so no guarantees there. This could just be Green nonsense. But who knew there was so much dissatisfaction with Ralph Nader?
I must also point out that I grew up with Adam Eidinger, the prospective Green nominee for DC shadow congressman. He was elected class president in high school with a Bart Simpson-esque campaign promising to lengthen lunch hours, shorten the school day, turn wine into water, and so forth. He is one of the sleeziest populist power-seekers I've ever encountered. Luckily, he is on the short road to no-where.
However, Green Party activists who know McKinney well say a national run also interests her and that she is being encouraged by high-level officials who figure her presence in a potential race against Nader could give the party a nationally watched primary.
"She, to me, expressed that was something she would consider," said Jason Kafoury, who took a leave of absence from his job as national coordinator for Democracy Rising, a group Nader founded, to campaign for McKinney. "She said she was mulling over a variety of options for 2004."
... National Green Party spokesman Dean Myerson said party officials weren't backing one potential candidate over any other but added McKinney had the support of many grass roots supporters around the country.
"It's obviously a big step, but the Green Party has been making a major attempt to appeal to African-Americans and other national communities with great success," he said. "The motivation is to have a spokesperson who can broaden the Green Party, talk to a community we feel not served by the Democratic Party."
Perhaps they feel they're missing out on that key insane asylum demographic?
During the primary, many Republicans crossed over to vote against the incumbent targeted, in part, for her pro-Palestinian stances and controversial statements.
Among them was her assertion that Bush administration officials covered up knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks so allies could profit. McKinney lost in a blowout, but Myerson said most Green Party members aren't offended by the congresswoman's stances or comments.
"I haven't heard a lot of negatives from Greens about her," Myerson said. "A lot of people see her taking up issues Democrats haven't taken up."
So the Greens aren't adverse to win-at-all costs after all? After submarining Al Gore's bid for the presidency? We'll wait and see on that one:
The Green Party ran 57 candidates for congressional seats across the country in 2000, none of them successful. Nader got 3 percent of the vote nationwide. Many Democrats say Al Gore would be president today had Nader not challenged him in Florida.
Even though Nader's impressive showing for a third party helped boost the party rolls to 200,000 members nationwide, Eidinger said many activists want to see a new face lead the ticket, or at least a good primary fight.
"Most people in the Green Party believe we need to have a competitive primary to help expand the base of this party," Eidinger said. "We're not just the Nader party. We want to survive."
UPDATE: A reader e-mailed to note that Campaign & Elections covered this last week, with some more details:
According to Alabam Green activist John Stith, the day after McKinney lost her re-election bid, she asked if the Greens wanted her to run for president or as Nader's running mate.
One of the other Greens pushing the notion in the AP piece above, Jason Kafoury, was assigned to McKinney's failed congressional campaign by Nader himself. 20-40 Green party hacks worked on her campaign as well, and Cynthia has frequently had Green volunteers on staff in both her local and Capitol offices.
UPDATE, Sep. 16: CNSNews has more Green Party coverage.
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