This Season, Green Is More Visible

John Rensenbrink knew his campaign for U.S. Senate as a Green Party candidate in Maine was being taken seriously four years ago when the two major party candidates stopped sniping at each other during debates and began to sling rhetorical mud at him. Such is the measure of power in politics.

Rensenbrink lost. But today, the national impact of the Green Party is measured in polling data--the political gold standard--and, increasingly, in how the Republican and Democratic candidates are forced to react to Greens on the stump. With the nation’s electorate ever more willing to cast votes for third-party candidates, Greens are changing the topography of the American political landscape.

At least that’s part of the message here this weekend, at the Green Party National Nominating Convention, where today Ralph Nader will be selected as the group’s presidential candidate.

The 66-year-old consumer advocate is raising the profile of the grass-roots party with his recent showings in polls. Last week Nader drew 7% both in a survey of California voters by the Field Poll and in a nationwide NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. And he has consistently outpolled Reform Party contender Patrick J. Buchanan.

Potential Effect of Third Parties

While political scientists are not willing to predict that the two-party system is passe, there is evidence that third parties will increasingly affect general elections. Last week, Nader bit into Vice President Al Gore’s territory, garnering a near-endorsement from the Teamsters Union. Greens are also tapping into a wide band of disaffected voters and the young--who have been uninspired by previous candidates.

“More and more people are turning to third-party alternatives,” said Lynne Sherpe, of the California Green Party. “More and more, we are attracting a younger audience--one-third of registered voters in California are under 30. I’m in my 20s, and if it weren’t for the Green Party, I wouldn’t be voting; it’s that simple. Most of my friends don’t have that allegiance to the two-party system that our parents had.”

Greens in this country have long fought their image as a one-dimensional environmental party. “We are making inroads in towns that are not just liberal strongholds and not just on environmental issues,” said Mike Feinstein, a member of the Santa Monica City Council who tracks Green candidates nationally. “We talk about sprawl and sustainable development. We’ve been the preferred alternative to the liberal Democrats. We talk about quality-of-life issues.”

The party’s platform is centered on 10 “key values” and emphasizes community-based leadership, environmental responsibility and a commitment to social justice. The party’s philosophy takes a holistic approach to issues, arguing, for instance, that an economic boom should benefit education and health care.

Growing Face of the Green Party

In a speech Saturday, Nader sounded familiar themes of corporate greed and control and the indifference of the two major parties, which he said were alienating Americans and driving them from the voting booth.

“The two major parties are not only run on the same well-worn set of ideas, but their campaigns are funded by millions of dollars provided by the same corporate interests through political action committees and massive ‘soft money’ operations,” he said.

Soft money refers to the unlimited, and largely unregulated, campaign contributions to political party campaign committees.

Nader said he will not accept PAC or soft money and expects to raise $5 million. And party officials said the Greens qualified this month for federal matching funds.

In a news conference, Nader again called for allowing the Green Party into the televised presidential debates, saying the current system offers “the debate of the drab against the dreary.”

Inclusion in the October debates will be an uphill battle. The independent Commission on Presidential Debates requires that a candidate achieve 15% support in national polls to participate. Green Party officials say the bar is too high and the system ought to be more inclusive.

The Green Party spread from grass-roots beginnings in the 1980s and has focused on local and state elections. Seventy-nine Greens hold office in 19 states and the District of Columbia, and there are 121 Green candidates in statewide elections nationally. There are 31 Greens holding office in California.

The surest way to irritate a Green is to suggest that they are political spoilers and a Green vote is a wasted vote. When Carol Miller received 17% of the vote in a congressional special election in New Mexico in 1997, she was accused of stealing votes from the Democratic candidate and helping send a Republican to Washington.

“We hear that all the time, but it’s not why we run for office,” Miller said. “In New Mexico, so many people know they are out of the system. When you go to Espanola and people hear ad nauseam about the boom economy, and everyone has a car that needs to be fixed, or health care or other problems, your message hits home. They are more open to third parties because we can communicate our message better.”

Nader, who is not a member of the Green Party, was nevertheless its presidential candidate in 1996. Running a noncampaign that spent less than $5,000, Nader polled 0.7%. This time around Nader has been barnstorming in all 50 states with running mate Winona LaDuke, a Harvard-educated Native American activist.

With the appearance of Nader and LaDuke on Saturday, the mood at the convention seemed buoyant. Tony Affigne, a delegate from Rhode Island, noted the presence of Greens from 15 countries.

“It’s the only truly international political party we have in this country,” he said. “There aren’t Republican and Democratic parties around the world. We are part of a global network.”

While the party moves to claim a piece of the mainstream political action, some among the Greens are not willing to relinquish the “fringe” tag just yet. At the convention--replete with “sandal-wearing vegetarians,” as one delegate joked, a discussion about security matters led one person to suggest simply being on the lookout for “weirdos.”

“Everyone in the room looked at each other and laughed,” Affigne said. “Who do you think is here?”