Progress Report reacts to Norm Solomon column on Matt Gonzalez campaign, Green Party presidential bid…
[Yep… Norm just doesn’t get it. I’m not an ex-Democrat; I’ve never been. Green Party is still emerging, still has a lot of recent converts who are influenced by past ties to the Democratic Party and can’t quite bring themselves to break from it completely… but there’s now a critical mass of folks who have made that break, and are not going back… interestingly, you’ll see that there’s no hesistation in challenging moderate Democrats with progressive Greens at the local level… the debate, at this point, is now limited to the highest levels of federal office (Senate and the Presidency). Give us another few years, and even that won’t be up for discussion. -Thomas]
Breakthrough and Peril for the Green Party
by Norman Solomon
SAN FRANCISCO — Up against the campaign of a wealthy businessman who outspent him nearly 10-to-1, a strong progressive candidate nearly won the runoff election last Tuesday to become this city’s mayor. Some national news stories depicted the strong showing for Matt Gonzalez as a big surprise. But it shouldn’t perplex anyone when vigorous grassroots organizing combines with a sound strategy to get breakthrough results.
Local elections in San Francisco are officially nonpartisan, and ballots don’t indicate party affiliations. But the contenders spoke openly of their party labels. The Democrat in the race, Gavin Newsom, became so worried that Bill Clinton and Al Gore flew in to campaign for him. In contrast, Green Party member Gonzalez relied on several thousand active volunteers.
Contrary to all the conventional media wisdom, the Gonzalez campaign surged to receive 47.4 percent of the votes.
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