Race for Green Presidential Nomination Again in Play
Although Kent Mesplay of California led the way with his early announcement for the 2012 Green Party Presidential Nomination, hails from the state bringing the largest delegation to the Baltimore Convention and will appear on all the primary ballots except for DC, other campaigns are coming to the fore and challenging any advantage possible from his early announcement. Dr. Stein of Massachusettes, Harley Mickelson of Michigan and now Roseanne Barr of Hawaii have all entered the race.
Dr. Jill Stein, has seemed the front runner for several months as the Massachusettes physician has hired a staff and stumped in several states, including the early primary states of California, Washington DC and of course her home Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
While her quip on the Leno show about starting her own 'Green Tea Party' left many in the Green Party leadership wondering if she were serious and many both in and out of the Party dismissing her announcement as a publicity stunt, today, comedian Roseanne Barr filed her questionnaire with the national Green Party's Presidential Campaign Support Committee. Campaign supporters report that they are close to securing the statements of support from Green Party members necessary for national Party 'recognition'. This process is a basis for access to many state party Presidential Preference ballots and caucuses which will name the delegates who will make the choice at this year's Baltimore Convention, July 12 through 15th. While her late start handicaps her in the race for Delegates to the Baltimore Convention, her media access and ability to self-finance will likely pose a significant challenge to her opponents in the Green Party Presidential contest. She also speaks in her response to the PCSC questionnaire of mobilizing her fan base to join the Green Party to make a difference. Ms. Barr has been a Green Party supporter since at least the 2008 campaign cycle when she helped raise funds for the McKinney-Clemente campaign.
Dr. Stein recorded her response to last night's State of the Union address. She is one of six candidates on the ballot in Arizona, the Party's fourth primary state, although four of those have no known campaigns or relationship with the Green Party. The Texas Green Party which achieved a ballot line in 2010 chose to nominate by convention rather than primary. Stein's campaign has hired at least three staff people to date, including campaign manager Ben Manski, who served two terms as a co-chair of the Green Party of the United States, as a Fellow with Liberty Tree Foundation and has been instrumental in building a movement to amend the U.S. Constitution in response to the Supreme Court Citizen United decision.
Her campaign has spoken of putting Dr. Stein on the ballot in 46 states, exlcuding Georgia which poses the most restrictive hurdles to ballot access in the nation and world as well as other states from the Jim Crow South. Most emerging political parties and independent campaigns have traditionally been left with this choice, by a campaign calculus which invariably writes off Georgia, Indiana, Oklahoma and North Carolina, at least.
Beyond his website, the Mickelson campaign has not been visible to Georgia Greens.
