[Sosfbay-discuss] Lorna Salzman on Chris Hedges

[Mark Lause]

Tian Harter wrote, "The big win for 2006 came from Illinois, where the
Candidate for Governor got 10.3% in the fall election. That was a tenth of a
point behind the guy in New Mexico that 10.4% so many years ago. That
wouldn't have happened if Cobb had really been bad for the Green Party."

If these showings had something to do with a national campaign...by Cobb or
Nader or anyone else...the impact would have been evident in other states.
In a coherent national party, our membership in Missouri, Wisconsin and
Indiana would have taken a jump from the Illinois numbers.  They didn't.

I won't be sidetracked into a pointlessly divisive discussion of the Cobb
campaign.  A nationally coherent party would have some realistic balance
sheet on the subject, but I don't think it did much for us on either coast
and it left the Midwestern parties, often not much more than paper parties,
almost comatose....

Tian further wrote, "I'd rather have a party hack than someone with no
interest in building a grass roots political Party."

If we accept these as our choices as our options, we may well wind up doing
so.  That was my point.

And the absence of such a plan to use the campaign to build the party had
more to do with the party's approach than the candidate.

ML