Green growth - Inside Politics - Brief Article

In Minnesota, the fast growing Green Party is finding out just what it means to be mainstream. The Greens have major-party status in the state and could end up tipping the balance in what is expected to be a very tight Senate race between Sen. Paul Wellstone (D) and former St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman (R).

At the Green Party's statewide convention in May, delegates endorsed author Ed McGaa as their Senate candidate. Neither Wellstone's sterling liberal credentials, which include 100 percent approval ratings from the AFL-CIO and the League of Conservation Voters, nor a pleading letter from the party's 2000 vice-presidential candidate Winona LaDuke convinced leftist delegates to support a staunch Democrat who voted for the anti-terrorism Patriot Act.

That decision could potentially play a crucial role in the election.

"I'd be really surprised if there's more than a 1.5 point gap between the winner and loser of this race," said Wyman Spano, editor of the Politics in Minnesota newsletter. "If Wellstone loses, the Greens are probably going to make up the difference."

"Spoiler" talk has dominated news about the race, but McGaa doesn't take any of it seriously.

"I am going to hurt Norm [Coleman] more than I hurt Wellstone," said McGaa, who fought in Vietnam. "Veterans will be deciding between Norm and me, and I served my country. Norm did not serve."

In 2000, Ralph Nader wrangled 5 percent of the presidential vote for the Greens in Minnesota. Like other minor parties, the Greens have a history of making life difficult in races where they have the potential to siphon off votes from major parties.

In 1998, Green candidate Robert Anderson scored 10 percent of the vote in New Mexico's 1st District, leaving Republican Heather Wilson to win with 48 percent.

In 2000, after Nader won 97,488 votes in Florida -- the state where 537 votes cost Al Gore the White House -- many liberal groups started to shun the Greens. AFLCIO President John Sweeney called Nader's campaign "reprehensible," and Democratic congressmen refused to work with Nader's group Public Citizen.

In a 2000 interview with the liberal magazine In These Times, Nader promised that the party would "go after the Congress in a very detailed way, district by district. If [Democratic candidates] are winning 51 to 49 percent, we're going to go in and beat them with Green votes. They've got to lose people, whether they're good or bad."

But Greens' dissatisfaction with Wellstone could be diluted by intraparty squabbles among themselves. McGaa's candidacy has caused concern among the party faithful because of his support for the war on terrorism and the fact that he voted for Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000. As a result Ray Tricomo, a Green activist, has declared his candidacy against the party's official candidate in the September primary.

Neither Green contender has a well-formed idea of the campaign he wants to run. Tricomo refuses to take most forms of donations, whereas McGaa only said he has "a very good committee that's deciding those details" -- major limitations in a race that is expected to cost up to $40 million.

These factors make Wellstone spokesman Jim Farrell confident that the campaign can win Green votes.

"The Greens know that if Wellstone were to lose because of them, they'd lose their strongest ally," Farrell said.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Campaigns & Elections, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group