In the United States as well as elsewhere, each branch of the government at each level has specific powers vested in it. To seek changes in national politics, the responsibility of the Federal Government, a political party has to campaign in both Congressional and Presidential elections.
One of the reasons why a presidential campaign is important is that it is the only campaign that is truly national, whereas Congressional campaigns remain in the candidates' districts or states.
The Green Party is running 435 candidates for 74 types of offices in 40 states in 2004. Out of 435, 57 are running for seats in the US House of Representatives, and 7, the US Senate. Green candidates for Congressional races are found in 21 states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Not bad, but it is not yet a national campaign. The Green Party needs to field more candidates, though that is a difficult task, as it costs a lot of time and money to run for higher offices and Green Party members are mainly working-class (with a few petit-bourgeois individuals here and there) lacking in time and money.
In addition, David Cobb is on the ballots in 27 states and DC: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawai'i, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Washington, Washington DC, and Wisconsin. That's a setback from 2000, when Ralph Nader was on the ballots in 43 states and DC.
Doug wrote:
>After Nader's high-profile runs of 1996 and 2000, there's almost no
>organizational or ideological residue.
The residue is increases in the numbers of registered Green voters (89,566 in October 1994; 112,199 in October 1996; 136,285 in April, 2000; 195,866 in October 2000, <http://web.greens.org/stats/>), Green candidates, and state Green Parties. What else could Greens expect Nader to do? Party-building is all party members' business, not just its presidential candidate's.
Marvin wrote:
>Can anyone cite any cases in a capitalist democracy where a party
>vaulted straight to national power without first winning elections
>at the municipal, state, and national legislative levels and
>demonstrating the capacity to secure gains for its supporters?
The Green Party candidates' average victory rate in 1985-2003 is slightly less than 25%. That's not bad for a party that is not financed by the ruling class. So far, the Green Party candidates have won 407 elections (at <http://www.feinstein.org/greenparty/electionhistory.html>), and today, "[a]t least 212 Greens in 27 states and the District of Columbia hold elected office as of September 2004" (at <http://www.feinstein.org/greenparty/electeds.html>). It's not like the Green Party has never won any race.
Anyhow, can you cite any case in a capitalist democracy where a party kept running candidates only for local elections for decades and then eventually became a dominant political party?
James Heartfield wrote:
>But when you invoke claims like 'not credible' what you are doing is
>subordinating your thinking to what is credible within the given
>political arrangments. It reminds me very much of the British
>left's psychological inability to break with the Labour Party. It
>did not matter from what height the Labour Party shat on them, they
>carried on regardless. Fear of political isolation outside the
>party, meant political dissolution inside. You think that you are
>making a tactical move to 'get rid of Bush'. But even if you
>succeed you have not 'got rid of Bush' but saddled yourself with
>Kerry. It is no good turning around after a Kerry victory to say
>that you disagree with everything he stands for. If you keep
>putting of building an alternative, then you will always be a
>cheerleader for the lesser evil.
Precisely. Putting off the work of building an alternative makes it only more difficult, not easier. -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * OSU-GESO: <http://www.osu-geso.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>