VP candidate for Peace and Freedom Party (1996)
Running mate with nominee: Marsha Joan Feinland (b. 1949)
Popular vote: 25,332 (0.03%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
In 1996 the Peace and Freedom Party found itself deadlocked between three Presidential contenders and attempted to submit all three names to the California Secretary of State, who would have none of that. According to Marsha Feinland of Berkeley, she volunteered to run just to keep the PFP on the ballot. Her running-mate was poet Kate McClatchy in Massachusetts. One of the three contenders in the deadlock was Monica Moorehead of the Workers World Party, who had actually won the PFP primary.
The Peace and Freedom Party 1996 Statement of Purpose:
The Peace and Freedom Party stands for democracy, ecology, feminism and socialism. We work for a world where cooperation replaces competition; where all people are well fed, clothed and housed; where all women and men have equal status; a world of freedom and peace where every community retains its cultural integrity and lives with others in harmony. Our vision includes:
Full employment with a shorter work week; $10 minimum wage with indexing.
Defend affirmative action.
Abolish NAFTA and GATT.
Self determination for all nations and peoples.
Conversion from a military to a peace economy.
Social ownership and democratic management of industry and natural resources.
End homelessness; abolish vagrancy laws; provide decent affordable housing for all.
Quality health care, education and transportation.
Free birth control; abortion on demand; no forced sterilization.
Restore and protect clean air, water, land and ecosystems; develop renewable energy.
End discrimination based on race, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability.
Democratic elections through proportional representation.
Defend and extend the Bill of Rights; oppose the phony drug war; legalize marijuana; decriminalize and treat drug use.
Abolish the death penalty and laws against victimless acts.
Tax the rich to meet human needs.
Feinland's voter pamphlet statement took a more personal tone: It is time to stop blaming immigrants and people on welfare for our problems. Ordinary people need to join together. We can use the country's wealth to meet human needs and make life better for everyone. As a teacher, I help all children learn. As an elected member of a rent board, I help tenants keep rents low and housing in good repair. I do not help the rich get richer. Priorities • Provide good food, housing, health care, and schools; make sure everyone has a job, or income if they cannot work • Stop giving tax money to big companies, banks and the military • Protect nature; keep air and water clean in everybody's neighborhood.
The Feinland/McClatchy campaign was a fairly low key effort. Attempts had been made to work with the Green Party for the election season but it did not come to pass.
Only on the ballot in California, they took 0.25% of the vote in the Golden State and finished 9th nationally.
Election history:
1986 - US House of Representatives (Calif.) (Peace and Freedom Party) - defeated
Other occupations: teacher, Southern California chair of the Peace and Freedom Party, poet, writer
Notes:
Although McClatchy lived in Massachusetts, she was California born and raised.
