[Texgreen] Gainesville FL: Area Greens might pass on 2004 race

[David Pollard]

May 28. 2003 6:01AM
Area Greens might pass on 2004 race
http://gainesvillesun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030528/LOCAL/3052
80009/1007

By TIM LOCKETTE
Sun staff writer

Some Green Party members say they want to concentrate efforts on
building support locally.
 
They brought Ralph Nader to Gainesville. They won him thousands of
Alachua County votes in the 2000 presidential election. And they took
plenty of heat from Democrats when George W. Bush ascended to the
presidency.

Now, some area Green Party members say they don't want their party to
put a presidential candidate on the ballot in 2004.

"We need to build our party from the grass roots up," said Rob Brinkman,
a delegate to the Green Party's state convention. "We should focus on
opposing the Bush administration, even if it means voting for Democrats,
and try to elect Greens at the local level."

Alachua County has proven to be unusually fertile ground for the Greens,
the party of choice for many left-leaning voters who feel left behind by
the Democrats. Consumer advocate Nader got a rock-star-like reception
from a crowd at the University of Florida when he appeared here in 2000
- and later won 3,215 votes from Alachua County in the presidential
election. 

Nader's nationwide support failed to top the 5 percent needed to qualify
the Greens for federal campaign money - something the Greens had hoped
would establish them as a serious contender in a multi-party system. But
in a presidential election decided by only a few hundred Florida votes,
Democrats say, Alachua County's Greens alone could have cost Al Gore the
presidency.

Area Greens still don't accept the charge. But there are signs that the
party may take a pass on the 2004 presidential contest. Monday's edition
of the Washington Post quotes national Green Party officials as saying
they are considering backing the Democrats in 2004. And Brinkman and
other area Greens say the Florida branch of the party is "divided" over
a 2004 presidential candidacy. Brinkman said the issue was a major topic
of debate at a recent meeting of state party leaders in Gainesville.

"I don't think we'll be able to get the 5 percent this year," area Green
Party member Jim Hamon said. "And it's really important to beat the Bush
administration before they erode our civil liberties even further."

Joining forces
Area Greens still deny Democrats' assertions that they were a "spoiler"
in the 2000 election. The Green exodus, they say, was tiny compared with
the number of registered Democrats who crossed party lines to vote for
Bush. And many Green voters, they say, wouldn't have voted at all if
Nader hadn't been on the ballot.

But Greens are also upset about what they see as the crumbling of civil
liberties since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as well as the recent
war in Iraq. And that has some ready to join forces with dovish
Democrats who have a real shot at unseating Bush.

"A lot depends on who gets the nomination," Brinkman said. "If it's
(Connecticut Sen.) Joe Lieberman, I might not vote at all. But if it's
someone more progressive like (former Vermont governor) Howard Dean or
(Ohio Rep.) Dennis Kucinich, I'll be out there campaigning."

Look back at 2000
Chuck Floyd, chairman of the Alachua County Democratic Party, says he
saw it coming.

In the days following the 2000 election, Floyd was among the Democrats
who decried the Greens as election-spoilers. Some of that post-election
bitterness resurfaced again during this year's Gainesville City
Commission elections, when Brinkman faced off against Democrat Rick
Bryant in an officially nonpartisan race. Bryant won the race in a
runoff.

On Monday, Floyd sounded a conciliatory note toward the Greens.

"I would welcome them," Floyd said. "I think we have a lot in common."

But even if the Green Party did back a Democrat, Floyd said, individual
Greens might not follow their lead.

"These are not the kind of people who like to do what they're told," he
said. "They're independent-minded."

Alachua County Republican Party Chairman Travis Horn said he doesn't
think the Greens will be a factor in 2004. He believes Bush will be able
to hang onto high postwar approval ratings.

"All the Democrat Party has is eight dull white guys and Al Sharpton,"
Horn said. "Not very impressive."

Thinking local
Sitting out the presidential race could prove disappointing to area
Greens, who seem to have finally formed a lasting organization. Green
Party branches sprung up here a few times in the 1990s, only to die
within a few months. The current Green organization, formed several
months before the 2000 election, still holds regular meetings and has
386 voters registered Green.

Brinkman said area Greens should focus on electing Greens and
Green-endorsed candidates at a local level before shooting for higher
office - something he said is consistent with the party's "bottom-up"
organizing philosophy.

And sitting out the race may help them in area elections, he said.

"I don't relish trying to run for office again in a party that's blamed
for putting a Republican in the White House," he said. 

The Greens hold a national convention in July, but won't select a
candidate until summer 2004.

Tim Lockette can be reached at 374-5088 or lockett@gvillesun.com.