Sunday, July 13, 2008

Cynthia McKinney wins Green Party nomination

Adding an extra dose of crazy to the presidential campaign:
The liberal environmentalist Green Party nominated former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney as its presidential candidate Saturday.
McKinney, 53, held off three rivals to win the party's nomination during its convention in Chicago, Illinois. . . .
First elected in 1992, she lost a primary challenge in 2002 after suggesting in a radio interview that members of the Bush administration stood to profit from the war that followed the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. In 2004 she ran again and won with a low-key campaign in which she largely avoided controversy. But voters ousted her again in 2006 after she was accused of a physical altercation with a U.S. Capitol Police officer who questioned her after failing to recognize her at a security checkpoint.

She joins fellow Georgian Bob Barr in the presidential field. (BTW, the fundraising ticker at Barr's Web site is now nearing $450,000.) Time magazine has a feature about Barr who "could conceivably Naderize John McCain in a few key states." The Time story has a Nevada dateline.

(Cross-posted at AmSpecBlog.)

UPDATE: Politico says the GOP is ignoring Barr:

If Republicans are worried about the third-party presidential candidacy of former GOP Rep. Bob Barr and the possibility that he could win enough votes to affect the outcome in several states, they aren't showing it.
At present there are no plans to follow the time-honored method of dealing with pesky third-party candidates by seeking to knock Barr off various state ballots. Indeed, when asked for comment about the Barr campaign, John McCain's campaign flat out declined to offer one. . . .
If McCain's campaign, or anyone acting on his behalf, does challenge Barr's ballot access, Barr's campaign believes they would have a powerful argument that the Republican would be acting hypocritically and they are optimistic he will not do so for that reason.
"I remember when McCain was locked out of the New York ballot in the 2000 primary," said Russell Verney, Barr's campaign manager. “He eventually sued the state and said the people deserved a choice. I don't think he'll go back on his word and will tell his activists to refrain from denying people a choice."
Hmmmm.

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