[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: [usgp-dx] The $400,000 GP loss in Minnesota

Wed Nov 10 01:13:30 PST 2004

>
>
>http://new.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D868DU3O0Greens, 
>Independents evaluate options after election
>The Associated Press - Tuesday, November 09, 2004ST. PAUL
>
>And then, there were three.
>
>Four several years, Minnesota has had four major political parties: 
>GOP, DFL, Independence and Green.
>
>But after four years with automatic access to the ballot for its 
>candidates and more than $400,000 in public subsidies, the Green 
>Party of Minnesota seems headed back to the political fringe.
>
>The party's presidential candidate, David Cobb, garnered the votes 
>of only 4,403 Minnesotans in last Tuesday's election - nearly 
>137,000 short of the 5 percent needed to automatically retain 
>major-party status alongside the state's DFL, Republican and 
>Independence parties.
>
>The IP, meanwhile, which soared to prominence with the election of 
>Gov. Jesse Ventura in 1998, will keep major-party status for at 
>least two more years.
>
>But only 12 IP legislative candidates qualified for public subsidies 
>this year, compared with 30 in 2002. And only three IP candidates 
>topped 10 percent of the vote.
>
>Chris Gilbert, professor of political science at Gustavus Adolphus 
>College in St. Peter, said the declining Green and IP fortunes 
>reflect a familiar pattern in American politics.
>
>"It's well established in the poli-sci literature that third parties 
>do best when voters perceive no real differences between Democrats 
>and Republicans," he said. "Almost all voters saw clear differences 
>this year."
>
>Green Party leaders haven't decided how to proceed in the face of 
>the almost total disappearance of the 5.2 percent support Ralph 
>Nader drew as its presidential nominee in 2000. Cobb's support last 
>week was 0.16 percent; Nader, running on a "Better Life" ticket this 
>year, did little better at 0.66 percent.
>
>The Greens, with a mailing list of about 5,000, could try to collect 
>more than 141,000 petition signatures to requalify as a major party.
>
>State chairwoman Betsy Barnum said that option is being considered 
>as an organizing effort.
>
>"Even if we don't make it, we would be able to talk to a lot of 
>people," she said. "But we'll undoubtedly have statewide candidates 
>in 2006 and we'll be confident of getting 5 percent then and getting 
>major-party status back."
>
>Greens took heart from the 20.9 percent showing of northeast 
>Minneapolis legislative candidate Tom Taylor, who bested Republican 
>Valdis Rozentals by 642 votes but trailed DFL victor Diane Loeffler 
>by 7,506. And congressional candidate Jay Pond drew 5.7 percent of 
>the vote in the Minneapolis-area Fifth District.
>
>The only other Green to crack 3 percent was Becki Smith, who polled 
>12.7 percent for third place in a four-way race in southeast 
>Minneapolis where DFL Rep. Phyllis Kahn cruised to her 17th term in 
>the House.
>
>"We're going to continue to build our party from the grass roots up 
>by running candidates for local office," Barnum said. "It's the best 
>strategy for any smaller, newer party."
>
>The IP will remain a major party for two more years on the strength 
>of Tim Penny's 16 percent showing in the 2002 gubernatorial 
>election. But that was a 21-point drop-off from Ventura's victory 
>four years earlier, and no other statewide IP candidate reached half 
>of Penny's total.
>
>The only state legislator elected under the IP banner, Sen. Sheila 
>Kiscaden of Rochester, is mulling a broad array of political choices 
>for 2006.
>
>IP chair Jim Moore is urging her to run for governor at the top of 
>the party's ticket and she hasn't said no. But if Kiscaden, a former 
>Republican who was denied GOP endorsement in 2002, seeks re-election 
>to the Senate, the DFL nomination would be her safest route, she 
>suggested Monday.
>
>"They'd really like me," said Kiscaden, who is caucusing with Senate 
>DFLers after Republican Minority Leader Dick Day banished her from 
>his caucus and vowed to spend $200,000 campaigning against her in 
>two years.
>
>Burdened with the IP's self-imposed ban on the special-interest 
>contributions that fuel the kind of effort Day envisions, Kiscaden 
>would have little ability to fight back as an IP candidate.
>
>But the DFL could respond in kind.
>
>"For a third party to have any traction is just very, very 
>difficult," Kiscaden said. "The deck is stacked against them."
>
>___
>
>Information from: Star Tribune, http:// WWW.STARTRIBUNE.COM
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand