Stateside with Rosalea: Convention Watch

Two national presidential nominating conventions are taking place this weekend, but before I get on to them, I should update my earlier report about the Libertarian Convention. Delegates there chose Michael Badnarik as their presidential candidate.

For a Libertarian he has a somewhat odd employment history working for computer companies that design systems enabling easier data sharing about individuals - the very antithesis of Libertarian ideals, I would have thought. But then perhaps I'm just in a sulk because on his website he called California "a socialist wasteland."

Constitution Party Convention

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, is the venue for the June 23-26 convention of the Constitution Party. According to the religious conservative website http://www.retakingamerica.com, the CP "is the only party which is completely pro-life, anti-homosexual rights, pro-American sovereignty, anti-globalist, anti-free trade, anti-deindustrialization, anti-unchecked immigration, pro-second amendment, and against the constantly increasing expansion of unlawful police laws, in favor of a strong national defense and opposed to unconstitutional interventionism."

From Friday's PR Newswire: "This November conservatives will have a clear, effective way to voice their displeasure with a Republican party that has forgotten its roots and lost its way by casting a vote for the Constitution Party candidate," stated presumptive presidential nominee Michael Peroutka.

"We will be on no less than 40 state ballots this election season -- that's more than Nader or any other third party candidate. We will work hard to earn the votes of an electorate that is tired of empty campaign promises, stale rhetoric and that wants a candidate that is not afraid to stand up for those values that made America great."

Many of the arguments that commentators make in support of voting for Peroutka echo the arguments made by commentators in support of a vote for someone like Nader, though the right-of-Republican and left-of-Democrat camps both obviously seek results that oppose each other.

Green Party Convention

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was the choice for the Green Party's nominating convention taking place June 24-27. Before the convention began, one of the presidential nominees announced he had accepted the invitation to be Ralph Nader's running mate in November. Nader is running as an independent this time, so it will be interesting to see who - if anybody - the Greens field as a presidential candidate. They may choose instead to endorse the Nader/Camejo ticket or to not field a candidate at all.

Well, it's now Saturday night and all has been revealed. Camejo and Nader were eliminated because they did not indicate in writing that they wanted the nomination. So David Cobb ended up with 408 of the 800-odd votes, beating "No Nominee" by only 100 votes. The Cobb/LaMarche website seems to show that there is a deep division within the Greens about whether fielding a candidate risks splitting the vote and getting GW Bush re-elected.

It would also seem that there is some bitterness between the Greens and the Nader/Camejo ticket. Peter Camejo polled a respectable 5.3 percent of the votes in the 2002 California governor's race, and impressed a lot of people in the televised debate during the recall election the following year.

It's also worth having a look at the Nader website to read the letter he sent the Green Party Convention delegates if you want to suss out the strategy that is in play here.

Presidential candidate websites:
Libertarian Party: http://www.badnarik.org/
Constitution Party: Michael Peroutka - http://www.peroutka2004.com/
Green Party: David Cobb - http://www.votecobb.org/
Ralph Nader: http://www.votenader.org/

ENDS

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