6 presidential candidates on the DC Statehood Green ballot in the February 12 primary election

THE DC STATEHOOD GREEN PARTY
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org

For immediate release:
Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Contact:
Scott McLarty, DC Statehood Green Party Media
Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org


Six presidential candidates on the DC Statehood
Green ballot in the February 12 primary election

• The 2008 Green presidential candidate may come
in second in DC, ahead of the Republican, say
Statehood Greens

• The candidates: Jared Ball, Jesse Johnson,
Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, Ralph Nader
(represented by Howie Hawkins), Kat Swift


WASHINGTON, DC -- The DC Statehood Green Party
will have six presidential candidates on the
ballot when DC voters go to the polls on February
12 for the primary election.

The six candidates are seeking the nomination of
the Green Party in the 2008 race for the White
House.  The nomination will be decided by about
800 delegates from state parties who will gather
at the Green Party's national convention in
Chicago, Illinois, July 10-13.  The DC Statehood
Green Party has qualified for 28 delegates to
participate in the nominating process.

The candidates are listed below.  Contact
information, photographs, video clips, and bios
of the candidates can be found on the candidates'
own web sites.  Video clips of many of the
candidates are also linked at
<http://www.gp.org/audio_video.shtml>.

The first Green presidential debate will take
place on Sunday, January 13 in San Francisco
<http://www.gp.org/press/pr-state.php?ID=9>.

"Since the DC Statehood Green Party has major
party status in the District of Columbia,
Statehood Green voters will participate in the
primary just as Democratic and Republican voters
do," said LaVerne Butler, Ward 5 representative
on the Statehood Green Party's steering
committee.

The Green Party has vowed to achieve 51 ballot
lines in 2008 in all the states and the District
of Columbia, and has committed party resources
for this purpose.  Greens currently have ballot
access in 21 states, including Washington, DC
<http://www.gp.org/statelist.shtml>.

"It's very possible that we'll see the Green
nominee come in second on Election Day 2008,
ahead of the Republican," said Gail Dixon,
at-large member of the DC Statehood Green Party's
steering committee and former elected member of
the DC School Board.  "We're seeing growing
enthusiasm for many of our candidates, and
District residents know how they've been treated
under the Bush Administration for eight years.
Many DC voters hold both Democratic and
Republican politicians responsible for endorsing
the Iraq war and other disastrous Bush policies,
and for confirming President Bush's worst
appointees.  More and more DC voters are hearing
the Statehood Green message that a vote in
Congress will not give us democracy, and that we
need the real thing -- statehood.  The Green
Party is the only party that supports DC
statehood."

In recent elections, DC Statehood Green
candidates have collectively won more votes than
Republican candidates, even in 2006 when the two
parties ran the same number of candidates for
partisan office.  The Statehood Green Party is
now 'DC's Second Party' in terms of electoral
clout.

The list of Green presidential hopefuls includes
one DC native, two women (one of them African
American), one African American man, at least two
candidates with Native American ancestry, one of
Arab ancestry, a former member of Congress, two
former Green presidential candidates, a college
professor, a candidate who will turn 35 in June
2008, and a 73-year-old.

The candidates:

• Jared Ball, independent journalist; radio host
(WPFW 89.3 FM Pacifica Radio in Washington, DC),
hip-hop scholar, assistant professor of
communications studies at Morgan State University
in Baltimore, Maryland
http://www.jaredball.com

• Jesse Johnson, 2006 US Senate candidate and
2004 gubernatorial candidate for the Mountain
Party in West Virginia (now an affiliate state
party of the Green Party of the United States);
filmmaker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMxgYnmdHfg

• Cynthia McKinney, former member of the US House
of Representatives (Georgia), 1993 to 2003, 2005
to 2007; former member of the Georgia House of
Representatives, 1988-1992
http://www.runcynthiarun.org
http://www.americanblackout.org/

• Kent Mesplay, 2004 candidate for the Green
presidential nomination; former president of
Turtle Island Institute; environmental engineer,
alternative energy activist; California Green
organizer
http://www.mesplay.org

• Ralph Nader, 1996 and 2000 Green candidate for
President; 2004 independent candidate for
President; consumer advocate (Howie Hawkins of
the Green Party of New York State has consented
to serve as a 'placeholder' candidate until Mr.
Nader announces his intentions for the 2008
election)
http://www.draftnader.org

• Kat Swift, Texas Green organizer; former Campus
Greens leader; activist with Clean Money San
Antonio and San Antonio Democracy Now
http://www.bexargreens.org/katforprez


MORE INFORMATION

The DC Statehood Green Party
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
• Green candidate database for 2007 and other
campaign  information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Media credentialing
http://www.gp.org/committees/media/kit.shtml
• Green Party Presidential Campaign Support
Committee
http://www.gp.org/committees/pcsc/index.shtml