Green Party is 'here to stay'
Nader's loss will not stop campaign
By Feoshia Henderson
Post staff reporter
Four years ago, David Cobb worked for Ralph Nader's Green Party presidential campaign in Texas. This
year, Cobb took on the Green Party banner himself, against the longtime consumer advocate.
Cobb, 41, said he's not worried that Nader's independent presidential campaign will spoil his race for the
nation's highest elective office in November.
"For those folks who might want to support an independent campaign, that's their right to do, that's fine.
But at the end of the campaign, Ralph Nader's independent candidacy is over. The Green Party continues,"
he said Monday, during an interview in the Northside. "Candidates will come and go, but the Green Party is
here to stay."
Cobb on Monday said he hadn't talked to Nader since he was elected the party's nominee at its national
convention in Milwaukee on June 26.
"I called his office and left a message, and it's not been returned," he said.
Cobb said the Green Party, which has 205 elected officials across the country, would continue to grow
based on ideas, not personalities.
"The Green Party is premised upon core values, peace, racial and social justice, real democracy and
environmental protection. Everybody who is committed to helping grow the Green Party is doing so based
on those principles and values," he said.
Cobb was in Cincinnati Monday as part of a 2½-week tour of Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and the
Northern Seaboard. He spent the evening at a cookout at the home of Gwen Marshall, convener of the
Southwest Ohio Green Party.
Cobb grew up in San Leon, Texas, but has lived in Eureka, Calif. for the last year. He helped found the
Green Party in Texas, and was the general counsel for the national party until he announced his candidacy
for Texas attorney general in 2002.
Cobb's running mate Patricia LaMarche, a broadcaster from Maine, was in Pennsylvania on Monday.
Cobb said he was running for office to offer voters an alternative to President Bush and presumptive
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
"I believe that there needs to be a political party running a candidate for office that will oppose the war and
occupation in Iraq, who will demand universal single-payer healthcare, a living wage for all, ending the racist
war on drugs and repealing the 'so-called' Patriot Act.
"We want to build schools instead of prisons and move away from our addiction to fossil fuels and toward
clean, safe alternative energy," he said, outlining many of the party's tenets.
Cobb has also called for all U.S. troops to be pulled from Iraq.
At his Web site at www.votecobb.org, the candidate said an interim Iraqi government should be set up "in
cooperation with the United Nations." That government would have the sole authority to determine the
peace-keeping force, what countries should have a role in it, and if U.S. troops should remain in the
country, he said.
When asked if he would take away votes from Kerry's campaign, Cobb said, "You can't steal votes, you
have to earn those. And I'm running a campaign to earn votes. John Kerry should do the same, so should
George Bush.
The Green Party has a right to exist, a right to run candidates and we're going to exercise our democratic
rights."
Cobb is not yet on the ballot in Kentucky or Ohio. He's working on collecting the necessary 5,000 valid
voter signatures it will take to on both ballots, however.
Publication Date: 07-20-2004
Nader's loss will not stop campaign
By Feoshia Henderson
Post staff reporter
Four years ago, David Cobb worked for Ralph Nader's Green Party presidential campaign in Texas. This
year, Cobb took on the Green Party banner himself, against the longtime consumer advocate.
Cobb, 41, said he's not worried that Nader's independent presidential campaign will spoil his race for the
nation's highest elective office in November.
"For those folks who might want to support an independent campaign, that's their right to do, that's fine.
But at the end of the campaign, Ralph Nader's independent candidacy is over. The Green Party continues,"
he said Monday, during an interview in the Northside. "Candidates will come and go, but the Green Party is
here to stay."
Cobb on Monday said he hadn't talked to Nader since he was elected the party's nominee at its national
convention in Milwaukee on June 26.
"I called his office and left a message, and it's not been returned," he said.
Cobb said the Green Party, which has 205 elected officials across the country, would continue to grow
based on ideas, not personalities.
"The Green Party is premised upon core values, peace, racial and social justice, real democracy and
environmental protection. Everybody who is committed to helping grow the Green Party is doing so based
on those principles and values," he said.
Cobb was in Cincinnati Monday as part of a 2½-week tour of Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and the
Northern Seaboard. He spent the evening at a cookout at the home of Gwen Marshall, convener of the
Southwest Ohio Green Party.
Cobb grew up in San Leon, Texas, but has lived in Eureka, Calif. for the last year. He helped found the
Green Party in Texas, and was the general counsel for the national party until he announced his candidacy
for Texas attorney general in 2002.
Cobb's running mate Patricia LaMarche, a broadcaster from Maine, was in Pennsylvania on Monday.
Cobb said he was running for office to offer voters an alternative to President Bush and presumptive
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
"I believe that there needs to be a political party running a candidate for office that will oppose the war and
occupation in Iraq, who will demand universal single-payer healthcare, a living wage for all, ending the racist
war on drugs and repealing the 'so-called' Patriot Act.
"We want to build schools instead of prisons and move away from our addiction to fossil fuels and toward
clean, safe alternative energy," he said, outlining many of the party's tenets.
Cobb has also called for all U.S. troops to be pulled from Iraq.
At his Web site at www.votecobb.org, the candidate said an interim Iraqi government should be set up "in
cooperation with the United Nations." That government would have the sole authority to determine the
peace-keeping force, what countries should have a role in it, and if U.S. troops should remain in the
country, he said.
When asked if he would take away votes from Kerry's campaign, Cobb said, "You can't steal votes, you
have to earn those. And I'm running a campaign to earn votes. John Kerry should do the same, so should
George Bush.
The Green Party has a right to exist, a right to run candidates and we're going to exercise our democratic
rights."
Cobb is not yet on the ballot in Kentucky or Ohio. He's working on collecting the necessary 5,000 valid
voter signatures it will take to on both ballots, however.
Publication Date: 07-20-2004
WriteUP!
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