{news} Book on the Green Party Presidential Campaign of 2004

[John Battista]

Green Party Tempest


Friends and Greens, Last fall the inspiration hit.  I realized I had to write up my account of what happened in the Green Party presidential election campaign.  Some day the historical record will be glad of a relatively full accounting of what happened, and there are discussions going on around the future direction of the Green Party that I wish to contribute to.  So I sat and wrote every for one hour every day from early November until Mid April.  Now it is ready, and I think you will find it a very interesting and readable account.  You are also more than welcome to forward this letter to anyone you think might be interested, and if you would, lists of Greens in your neighborhood and state. 

Here is the blurb.  

Green Party Tempest tells the surprising and inspiring story of the Green Party¹s 2004 presidential campaign in the United States.  From the party¹s first contact with candidates in 2003, through the hotly contested national convention in Milwaukee, to election day and the Ohio recount, Greg Gerritt saw it all, and in Green Party Tempest he tells the whole story for the first time.  

Here is what some Green Party members that read the manuscript say:

Holly Hart, GPUS Platform Committee co chair:  ³Written by one of the early founders of the Green Party in the US, Greg¹s engaging account of the events surrounding the 2004 Presidential race is an invaluable window into the goals, obstacles, and approaches to organizing and electoral work facing the Green party in today¹s forbidding political climate.²

Tony Affigne, GPUS International Committee co chair:  ³This book was written after a great deal of thought and years of unparalleled work in the US Green party movement.  Greg was the first US Green¹s candidate for elective office in 1986, a leader in both GPUSA and the Association of State Green Parties, statewide coordinator for Nader/LaDuke in 2000, and national Green party Secretary from 2003-2005.  His book holds important lessons for Green Party activists across the nation.²

Matt Tilley, co founder Maine Green Party:  ³Greg Gerritt¹s 20 year history with the Green Party provides him a unique perspective for this account of the 2004 Presidential Nominating convention.  Gerritt captures the drama and spectacle that IS the Green Party in the USA, a microcosm of all that is right and wrong with modern American politics²


Buy this book:


I have self published this book, no corporate publishers.  It is completely a boot strap operation, enhanced by other Greens who think the history and message in this book ought to be more widely available.  After you read it, if you want to help spread the word, that would be appreciated.

If you want this book, you can get it one of several different ways.  You can find Greg Gerritt in Providence and buy one directly from him for $10.00.  

If you are not one of the lucky few who can come to Providence and buy it directly from Greg, you can order it by mail for $10.00 plus $2.00 Shipping and handling (total $12.00) by sending a check to Greg Gerritt  37 6th St  Providence RI 02906.  I am happy to sign books, just tell me who you want me to sign it to. 

If you want more than 3 copies please email Greg Gerritt <gerritt at mindspring.com> and I can provide information on bulk orders. 

If you want to take it to events as part of your Green Party table, please get in touch with me and we can figure something out.

Here is further inducement to buy the book. A little teaser, the Introduction:  After you read this, I am hoping you will want more. 


Introduction 

During 2003 I started thinking about how the presidential campaign season was shaping up as a perfect storm for the Green Party.   This is what the Green Party faced. The Anybody But Bush (ABB) push in progressive forces following on the tail of the "spoiler" factor left over from 2000.  A war on terrorism that was progressing as a disaster that made it even more of a tool for Republicans to strike fear into the hearts of Americans.  The Democrats were demonstrating that they were their own worst enemy, supporting war in Iraq and generally trying to be Republican light, but still insisting that progressives join their campaign as there was no other choice or path for removing Bush.  Closer to the heart of the Green Party there were additional discussions about what to do.  Should the Green Party have a candidate? Should Ralph Nader run?  Should he run as a Green?  If we decide to have a candidate and its not Nader, who should it be? What should the campaign strategy be? Just what is the best set of tactics for growing the Green Party in 2004?  Just who is our core audience and how do we best engage them? With all this rancorous debate is it any wonder there were people in the party who were wishing the 2004 election would just be over so they could get back to the real work of party building.

Through a combination of strategizing, action, and the whirlwind we found ourselves in, the Greens ran a homegrown Green ticket for President and Vice President working to build the party by helping grow local efforts, the team of David Cobb and Patricia LaMarche.  I ended up supporting the home grown Green strategy because it was the only strategy that I found that could actually provide a plausible explanation of how it was going to help us continue to grow in the conditions we found ourselves in in 2004.   Many Greens believe that a different strategy/candidate would have been better for the Green Party, but they have never demonstrated in any meaningful way that a different strategy or candidate would have actually benefited the Party, produced better results for local candidates, or strengthened local and state parties.  

Does anyone have a good explanation of how running no Presidential candidate have given us better results for local candidates on election day?  Would local Green Parties around the country be bigger and stronger than it is now if we had not run David Cobb for President?  Would a screw Kerry campaign have helped local candidates on election day or contributed to a bigger and stronger Green Party today? Would endorsing Nader have helped local candidates more on election day?  Where Green Parties worked closely with Nader did that help their local candidates more than working with Cobb would have?  Did the local parties working with Nader grow more than those working with Cobb? In places where Greens worked with Nader do they have new and enduring ties to other centers of activism beyond the Green Party that will be used to build the party? Any better than those in other Green centers? 

In some ways these questions are unanswerable. Alternative futures were unknowable at the times we had decisions to make, and even in hindsight it is hard to say how something else would have played out.  For those few things on the list we could theoretically measure, we probably could not get good data.  But I am pretty sure we did the right thing by running the Cobb/LaMarche ticket and have a hard time imagining that another approach in 2004 would have produced better results for the Green Party. 

So all in all the atmosphere around a Green presidential run looked pretty bleak.  But from the time I adopted the perfect storm terminology,  I was also very clear that despite the storm, despite the fact that the Presidential campaign was likely to be a very difficult campaign no matter what we did, there was no magic bullet that was going to make it a great year for a Green presidential campaign, the Green Party was going to come out just fine in November 2004. 

The reason I was always so confident that the Green Party was going to be fine is that the Green Party really is about building at the grassroots. Green Party local campaigns were going to be the source of our growth in 2004 no matter what happened in the Presidential campaign.  I know it takes away from the drama, but it seems reasonable to state here that the local elections were successful. Local Green candidates garnered 1.6 million votes, more than ever before. There are now more Green elected officials, more local chapters and more active state parties than ever before.  There are some Greens who think the year was disastrous, and there are local groups that were severely impacted by the events of 2004, but for the most part Green activities around the country are in pretty good shape and the assessment of the activists is up beat.  And yes, the successful outcome does influence how this account shapes up. 

_________________________________________________________

I want ______ copies of Green Party Tempest at $10.00 a piece and have included $2.00 for shipping and handling per copy.  
(For orders larger than 3 books contact <gerritt at mindspring.com> for shipping and handling costs)
I have enclsoed a total of $_________

The book(s) should be sent to:

Name___________________________________ 

Address__________________________________

City State ZIP ______________________________ 

Book should be signed for______________________

Mail checks to:
Greg Gerritt
376th St
Providence RI 02906


401-331-0529
gerritt at mindspring.com
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