Greens at a crossroads.

• Author: Conniff, Ruth
• Position: The Word from Washington

It's probably unfair to be too hard on the Greens for taking such a complicated view of the 2004 Presidential election. At their convention in Milwaukee at the end of June, the arguments were flying: for running all out against the Democrats again, for running only in "safe" states where they wouldn't affect the outcome of the Presidential election, and even for not running a candidate for President at all. While it was confusing trying to sort out all the Greens' various positions, it's easy to sympathize with them. What is the right thing to do? Fold the tent on building a progressive third party when the going gets tough? Or stay true to principle and ride a wave of opposition to the war in Iraq and the corporate takeover of our democracy--all the way to another victory for George W. Bush?

The Greens are still dealing with the hostility of half the nation for Ralph Nader's "spoiler" effect in 2000. Add to that the penumbral presence of Nader, who didn't even attend the convention, seeking the Greens' endorsement from an aloof distance. It was no surprise that David Cobb, champion of the "safe state" strategy, emerged as the party's nominee.

Nader left it to his running mate, Peter Camejo, former Green candidate for governor of California, to make an impassioned argument at the convention for running aggressively against the Democrats. "This campaign will stand against the Bush/Kerry pro-war stance," Camejo told the convention, "because the biggest political error made by progressives is instead of opposing a policy, they oppose an individual, and think that if you change the individual, you change the policy." Kerry calls for more troops in Iraq, and the Democrats and Kerry are little better than Bush on many issues, Camejo says.

But Nader himself has said that there is a substantial difference between the two political parties, and he told Tim Russert on Meet the Press that beating Bush is the first priority in the next election.

Chasing Camejo across the skyway from the Hyatt Regency to Milwaukee's downtown convention center, I tried to get it all straight. Why isn't Nader running as a Green? What are we to make of the possibility of reelecting Bush?

Nader didn't come to the convention, Camejo said, "because he promised not to interfere" with the Greens' decision, and "because he wants to build a broader coalition. He welcomes people who wouldn't come in if he were just a Green." Or, as another Nader supporter at the convention put it...