Kesher Talk

Green Party loses another presidential nominee as McKinney bows out
by Alex Kaplun, Greenwire reporter

Less than three weeks after Ralph Nader announced that he would not seek the Green Party's nomination for president, another controversial figure -- former Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) -- has withdrawn herself from consideration for the party's presidential bid.

Over the last year, McKinney had expressed an interest in running on the Green Party ticket and has made several speeches before party members. She also has been the subject of a Georgia-based "Draft McKinney" campaign largely organized by the Green Party.

"I have received words of encouragement from every corner of this country and from the Green Party supporters beyond our shores," McKinney wrote in a letter to party officials last week. "But in the end, a national campaign is not in the cards for me at this time."

Instead, McKinney appears poised to make another run at the congressional seat she lost in 2002. McKinney's father -- a former state legislator -- told Georgia media earlier this week that she will challenge one-term incumbent Rep. Denise Majette (D-Ga.) in 2004.

McKinney served five terms in Congress before losing the 2002 Democratic primary to Majette by 20 points. McKinney's support eroded after she suggested the Bush administration had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks but allowed them to occur to usher in a massive military build-up and an imperialistic agenda.

McKinney's rejection of a Green Party nomination leaves the nation's third largest political party without a recognizable name to carry its banner in 2004. The best-known figure among potential Green Party candidates is Peter Camejo, who finished fourth in California's gubernatorial recall election last October.

Some Greens have expressed interest in persuading Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) to abandon his run for the Democratic nomination and join the party's ticket. But Kucinich said earlier this year he had no interest in running for the Green Party. The Greens' nomination convention is scheduled for late June in Milwaukee.

Hugh Esco, the Georgia Green Party's political director, conceded that the party will have a harder time both securing placement on election ballots and getting its agenda noticed without a well-known candidate.

"This is certainly going to make this [election] challenging, but it doesn't stop us," Esco said. "If we were going to roll over and play dead, we wouldn't have started down this road in the first place."

posted by William @ 1/14/2004 01:43:32 PM