Smarting from 2000, Greens to back no nominee

At a state convention Saturday, a plurality of Florida Greens vote to sit this presidential election out.

ST. PETERSBURG - It's not easy being Green.

Not in Florida, where Green Party candidate Ralph Nader is widely seen as having delivered the White House to President Bush in 2000. Not when Florida Greens face vitriolic attacks from fellow liberals over Nader's 97,000 Sunshine state votes.

"We're always being blamed as spoilers," said Nick Manolukas, a Green Party activist from Sarasota.

Given the still-raw emotions over Florida's virtually tied presidential election, one might understand why once-ardent Nader supporters this time around want to do nothing to hurt presumed Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry.

About 80 Florida Greens gathered in St. Petersburg for their state convention Saturday, and a plurality voted to encourage no Green Party presidential nominee at all. The vote bucked the trend of Green parties across the country which have shown strong support for putting up a Green Party candidate or endorsing the independent candidacy of Nader.

"The rest of the (country's Greens) will be shocked by this no-candidate vote," said Mark Kamleiter, a St. Petersburg attorney and outgoing co-chairman of the state party. "But they're not living in Florida and haven't lived through what we did. After the election, people immediately scapegoated the Green Party."

Greens from across the state gathered beneath a glittering silver disco ball in the State Theater on Saturday, listening to speeches, swaying to the music of electric guitars, laughing at a spoof of the Patriot Act performed on stage.

Some arrived late, because they attended a protest of Vice President Dick Cheney as he visited Florida State University on Saturday morning. The late arrivals went straight to the convention hotel, the $39-a-night Palm Bay Inn (corporate-owned places are a no-no).

Despite the communal spirit, it was clearly a group divided and anxious over how to approach the presidential election.

Many want to embrace Nader, who is inviting the party's endorsement. Others want a Green Party candidate who will avoid battleground states. Still others insist Greens need to hold their noses and vote for Kerry, a Democrat who voted for the Patriot Act and the authorization to use force in Iraq.

"I don't think we, including myself, had any idea how bad Bush would be," said Tammy Harman, Hillsborough County Green Party chairwoman, who was among those opposed to the party endorsing Nader or putting up another presidential candidate. "I don't think the U.S. or the world can handle Bush for four more years. It's that critical."

The Nader campaign is gathering signatures to make it onto ballots across the country. To avoid Florida's tough signature requirements for nonparty candidate, the Nader campaign expects to form a new party, the Populist Party, to get on the ballot.

Four years ago, Nader actually fared worse in Florida than he did nationally, winning just 1.6 percent of the Florida vote, compared with 2.6 percent across the country. But that meant more than 97,000 votes in a race won by a mere 537. Nader supporters have never heard the end of it from anybody-but-Bush Democrats.

State Democratic Chairman Scott Maddox expects Nader will make it on Florida's ballot, but said he hopes the consumer crusader will rethink his candidacy. "I can't imagine why anybody would want to act just as a spoiler for the presidency, when the stakes are so enormous," Maddox said.

Saturday's convention brought two candidates for the Green nomination: environmental activist Lorna Salzman of New York, and David Cobb of California, who promises to avoid battleground states and is seen as a leading contender for the nomination.

Divided Florida Greens, though, voted to send 26 delegates to the party's national convention in June to back a variety of positions. Ten will push to back no candidate; nine to endorse Nader; four to endorse Democratic U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinch; and one to nominate Peter Camejo, who recently ran for California governor as a Green Party nominee.

"We should all be able to vote for who we choose," said Steven Shown of Miami, who like other Greens is fed up with the spoiler tag but also pragmatic.

"It's not democratic when we ask a third party to take a hit and step aside," he said.

World and national headlines

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright