Maybe because Cynthia McKinney, the black six-term Congresswoman from Georgia, was at the top of the Green Party ticket in 2008.
This year, enter Dr. Jill Stein, the presumptive Green Party presidential candidate (the Green Party national convention is Aug. 4 to 7 in Houston, TX). This is the second go-round for Jill, who also ran in that slot in 2012.
Jill Stein is an impressive and articulate candidate, with a platform and stump speech very similar to Bernie's. Their issues and policies overlap so closely that Stein, seeing what the Democrats were doing to her political soulmate, actually offered him a chance to top the Green Party ticket with her. Either Stein/Sanders, or Sanders/Stein. So far he has declined.
But his followers have not declined. They have flocked to her campaign in droves ever since Sanders endorsed Clinton, sending hundreds of donations in the Sanders-averaged $27 increments. More than a million dollars has appeared in her coffers since that fateful day two weeks ago, helped along by federal matching funds, for which the Green Party qualifies.
So what? The Green Party is a fringe party? Don't count on it. Not this year.
The Green Party is already on the ballot in about half the states, which combined have more than enough electoral college votes for Stein to win the White House. Those states include Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Washington DC, and Hawaii, with official write-in status in Indiana. Ballot access petitions have been submitted awaiting final approval in Pennsylvania, Alaska, Georgia, and Vermont. And petition drives are still underway to get ballot status in a dozen more states.
Of those Green states, Sanders beat Clinton in the Democratic primary in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Maine, Vermont, Michigan, Alaska, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Indiana, and West Virginia. Sanders and Clinton basically tied in California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York.
With momentum suddenly shifting in her direction, Jill Stein may well reach the 15% polling threshold to get into the three presidential debates this fall. Those will be debates worth watching, because Jill Stein knows her stuff. If Stein gets on that national stage, going toe to toe with Trump, Clinton, and probably Libertarian Gary Johnson, in this season of anti-establishment fervor, we might well get our first woman president come November.
But her name won't be Hillary Clinton.
And if that happens, we'll know why.
Thanks, super-delegates.
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