Minneapolis is Greens’ second choice

08/29/2007

Chicago gets the convention despite the party's successes at the polls here. Detroit and Oakland also competed.


By Bob Von Sternberg,
Star Tribune
August 29, 2007


The Twin Cities won't host two presidential nominating conventions next year after all.

Delegates to the Green Party's 2008 convention voted this week to hold it in Chicago, choosing the Windy City over Minneapolis, Detroit and Oakland.

"We won't get the boost we were hoping for, but it was a good exercise in trying to compete," said party member Cam Gordon, a Minneapolis City Council member who made the city's pitch for the convention to party representatives last month.

Gordon argued that the city's long history of progressive politics and Greens' success at the polls in Minneapolis made the city a natural location for the convention. "That wasn't enough for us to get it," he said. "It's hard to overcome the perception we're not as big a hub as Chicago."

He took some consolation that the city was the runner-up, receiving more votes than Detroit or Oakland. Minneapolis also lost a bid for the party's 2004 convention, which was held in Milwaukee. "It's clear we had support -- just not enough," Gordon said.

Votes were cast by 132 delegates to the convention, but specific vote totals weren't immediately available.

The Greens' convention will be held next July 10-13, less than two months before the Republican convention will be held in St. Paul.

Beyond a smattering of local elections, the Greens have had limited electoral success over the years. In 2004, its presidential nominee, longtime party activist David Cobb, received 0.1 percent of the vote. Ralph Nader's 2000 Green Party bid remains controversial to this day because of widespread perceptions that the votes he won in Florida essentially delivered that state -- and the presidency -- to George W. Bush.