David Cobb, and the Green Party candidacy for President
Of those who have declared they want the Green candidacy for President, David Cobb, a Texas lawyer and long time party activist, now has the edge. He’s criss-crossing the country, building support, getting his name out there, doing all the right things.
My personal belief is, if Peter Camejo wants the candidacy, he will get it. Otherwise, it will go to Cobb.
A major difference between Camejo and Cobb is on the “safe states” issue. Cobb says he will only campaign in states where either the Democrat or Bush has a clear advantage, and will not campaign in swing states.
To me, and Camejo as well, this strategy makes no sense, as it simply cedes Green votes to Democrats, and does so with no struggle at all. Why campaign if you’re not going to fight for what you believe in?
This strategy, which sounds sensible at first glance but isn’t sensible at all, has no upside for Greens, no upside at all. It implies those Greens who live in non-safe states should vote Democratic, a bizarre idea indeed for a Green presidential campaign. Also, why on earth shouldn’t a Green campaign in states deemed safe for Bush?
Plus, what defines a safe state, is it a 10% margin, a 5% margin, or something else? What happens if a safe state goes non-safe? Apparently you would then tell those whose votes you were just campaigning for, oh well, you’re not a safe state now, please vote for the Democrat, I’m out of here. This is nonsensical.
This is further confused by Cobb saying he will not use a safe states strategy if Lieberman or Clark get the Dem nomination but will if anyone else gets it. Uh, no. Unless I’m missing something, the other Dems are not backers of Green values.
Camejo believes a Green presidential candidate should campaign everywhere, and campaign hard. A hard left Green candidate could, among other things, force the Democrats to become more genuinely antiwar; a “safe states” strategy will convince no one but the Green Party faithful of anything.
(And incidentally, a genuinely antiwar Democrat might well win, because he will clearly show the differences between him and Bush, something the more squishy Democrats can’t do.)