Patricia Helen LaMarche, November 26, 1960 (Providence, RI) -
VP candidate for Green Party of the United States (aka Green Party aka D.C. Statehood Green Party aka Independent aka Green Independent Party aka Green-Rainbow Party aka Pacific Green Party) (2004)
Running mate with nominee: David Keith Cobb (b. 1962)
Popular vote: 119,910 (0.10%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
The Green Party was at a crossroads in the 2004 national election. Still smarting from the perhaps unfair perception that they were the spoilers in the 2000 election-- and handing the White House to George W. Bush especially in Florida-- the Party had some significant differences of opinion within their ranks on how to proceed. Generally speaking there were three factions at play here.
The first group desired to endorse Ralph Nader's independent run. Nader himself had announced in Dec. 2003 he would not seek the Green nomination, but later he realized the Party's endorsement would come in handy in terms of ballot access although he had no intention of joining the Greens himself. The pro-Nader faction was energized when a week before the Green convention Nader had selected GP activist Peter Camejo as his running-mate. Camejo in fact had won the most popular votes in the Green Party primaries for President.
The second group wanted to run a campaign with a "pure" Green candidate (David Cobb was the frontrunner) rather than ride on the star power of a political celebrity who was not necessarily in line with the Party platform. Cobb, a California attorney and Party activist, had worked hard to gain the nomination as he electioneered across the country gathering delegates.
The third group promoted the idea of sitting out the 2004 Presidential contest and instead concentrate on elections at the grassroots local level. A leaflet from this faction at the convention included, "Choosing No Candidate will allow Greens to build strength at the grassroots, avoiding a punishing national media fight we cannot win ... Our best route to national influence is building local power."
On June 26, 2004 Cobb won the nomination on the second ballot. He named Pat LaMarche, a Green Party activist in Maine, as his running-mate.
Unlike Nader/Camejo the Cobb/LeMarche ticket adopted a "safe state" strategy of not campaigning hard in swing states where they thought they could possibly tip the scales in favor of Bush. Cobb rationalized, "In California, Cobb-LaMarche's message is going to be, 'Progressives, don’t waste your vote.' Because if a progressive casts a vote for the corporate militarist John Kerry in California, it does not help to unelect Bush, and you can only send a message that you actually support policies that you don't. That's a wasted vote. Simple message: progressives, don't waste your vote. In the other states where it's very much closer, we have the same, in-depth, scathing critique of both the Democratic and Republican parties, and then conclude with, 'but think carefully before you cast your vote.' You know, that is completely respecting the voter, and it is really challenging those voters to think about why we have a system where I have to vote against what I hate, rather than support what I want."
LaMarche started a "Left-Out Tour" as a way of campaigning, staying in homeless shelters and domestic violence safehouses in her journeys "to draw attention to those living on the edge of society." Her experiences were later published in a monograph, Left Out in America (2006).
There were a few negatives with LaMarche on the ticket. Low on the political Richter Scale was her switching her registration from Democratic to Green just before she ran for Governor of Maine in 1998. And her short stay in jail after a DWI in 1997. In the Big Picture those were not huge issues, after all both Bush and Cheney had been busted for drunk driving too. What really riled those on the Left was her statement she was not sure who she voting for and suggested she just might pull the level for the Democrat on Election Day, "If the race is tight, I'll vote for Kerry."
A swath of the Left felt the Greens were capitulating to the Democrats far too much. The Vermont Green Party broke ranks and endorsed Nader/Camejo. Cobb did not appear on the ballot there. In Utah the Greens experienced concerted activity to keep them off the ballot and Nader's supporters were accused of being complicit in that effort.
The ticket was on the ballot in 27 states + DC with enough Electors to theoretically win the Presidency with 270 electoral votes. An additional 14 states recorded write-in votes for the ticket. The Cobb/LaMarche team finished with their strongest popular vote percentages in: Connecticut 0.61%, Hawaii and Maine 0.40% each, Massachusetts 0.36%, Alaska 0.34%, California 0.33%, District of Columbia 0.32%, Rhode Island 0.30%, and Oregon 0.29%.
The Green Party Presidential popular vote result in 2004 is the nadir on the graph of their Electoral history. Get it?
Election history:
1998 - Governor of Maine (Green Independent Party) - defeated
2006 - Governor of Maine (Green Independent Party) - defeated
Other occupations: teacher, radio talk show host, DJ, columnist, author, novelist, lecturer
Notes:
1998 opponents included Angus King (winner).
Maternal grandparents were Irish immigrants.
