Greens find strength in local races but party is struggling nationally

[Freddie Stubbs]

BY LAURA KURTZMAN AND MARY ANNE OSTROM

Knight Ridder Newspapers


SAN JOSE, Calif. - (KRT) - After a dismal showing in the presidential contest, the Green Party finds itself out in the cold and likely to lose ballot access in a handful of states.

Its little-known candidate, Eureka, Calif., lawyer David Cobb, won barely one-10th the vote Ralph Nader captured as the party's nominee in 2000, meaning the party will not clear the vote threshold to stay on the ballot in some places. His decision to run in states where his campaign would not threaten the Democratic candidacy of John Kerry made his a token campaign that was further drained of energy by Nader's competing independent candidacy.

"No one ever likes their candidate not to get votes," said Jo Chamberlain, a national co-chair for the Greens who lives in Half Moon Bay, Calif., and stayed out of the party's intramural split over whether to nominate Nader or go with Cobb. "Let's be honest."

But even as the Greens struggle to remain relevant nationally, they are showing strength in local elections, particularly in liberal Northern California, where they have been able to position themselves to the left of moderate Democrats.

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