The Green Party Nominates Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney To Run As President

Cynthia McKinney is an African American woman that represented Georgia's 4th Congressional District, as a Democrat, for six terms, five of which were consecutive. McKinney chose Rosa Clemente, who is a journalist and activist as her running mate. In 2007 McKinney left the Democratic party and a month later, in October of 2007, she filed paperwork with the FEC creating an exploratory committee for a Green Party presidential campaign. At the Green Party's nominating convention on Saturday, McKinney received 313 votes out of the 532 votes cast on the first round of balloting.

Green Party spokeswoman Scott McLarty acknowledged McKinney was a "long shot" for the White House, but said, "Every vote that she gets helps the Green Party."

"The United States needs an alternative party," McLarty said. "The narrow two-party system we have right now has not served us very well."

There were approximately 800 people attending the convention and McKinney told them in her speech, "I am asking you to vote your conscience, vote your dreams, vote your future, vote Green. A vote for the Green Party is a vote for the movement that will turn this country right-side-up again." McKinney runs on an anti-war and human rights platforms and is well known for her efforts to help Hurricane Katrina victims as well as her criticisms of the government on their handling of it. McKinney also took an active interest into the death of Tupac Shakur where she sponsored a bill that would have demanded release of records pertaining to his death, in a manner that would have been faster than the process used under the Freedom of Information Act. In 2003 and in 2005, McKinney introduced bills called the MLK Records Act, that had they succeeded, would have seen all currently sealed files concerning the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr released. Those records were sealed in 1978 and are not due to be declassified until 2028. The Senate version of that bill was introduced by John Kerry and co-signed by Hillary Clinton. Cynthia McKinney has been very outspoken on a number of issues which are popular to members of the far left progressive Democrats, but running as the Green Party candidate makes it a "long shot", even according to the Green Party officials. The most successful Green Party Candidate was Ralph Nader in the year 2000, where he received 3 percent of the vote, and later was highly criticized by members of the Democratic party that blamed him for Al Gore's loss. This year Ralph Nader is running as an Independent.