Burnt Orange Report

Greens Refuse to Endorse Nader

By Andrew Dobbs

Great news coming from the Associated Press regarding the Green Party convention in Minneapolis this weekend:

The Green Party nominated Texas attorney David Cobb as its candidate for president Saturday, dealing a blow to independent Ralph Nader's campaign.

Nader, the party's candidate in 1996 and 2000, had hoped for the party's endorsement and access to the ballot Greens have in 22 states and Washington, D.C. (news - web sites) Instead, he will have to find another way to get on the ballot in those states, including Wisconsin and California.

Nader told party officials months ago he would not accept the party's nomination for president, openly courting their formal endorsement instead.

But 408 delegates voted for Cobb on the second ballot to give him the nomination. Maine radio personality Pat LaMarche was the party's nominee for vice president.

Cobb has walked a line between praising Nader and questioning what his candidacy as an independent offered the Greens as they try to expand their status as a third party (...)

Nader already has the backing of the Reform Party, which has ballot access in seven states, but he has yet to be placed on any state ballots.

This is great news for Democrats. Nader has been working for several months now and has yet to secure ballot access in any state. Of those 7 Reform Party states, the most critical of them all- Florida- is likely to leave his name off as their rules stipulate that the party must have a convention to get the candidate's name on the ballot while the Reform Party simply had a conference call (far cry from Perot's almost 20% in 1992). Furthermore, the convention was full of division between Nader backers and Cobb supporters which suggests that the party might be headed towards disintegration. Ralph Nader is quickly becoming a meaningless figure in the race and the Green Party is on the rocks.

In other news, now of the 4 largest political parties in the country 3 of them have Texans on the ballot. GOP nominee George W. Bush, Libertarian nominee (and Buda native) Michael Badnarik and Green Party nominee David Cobb. Let's hope that we have no Texans in the White House in January!