Nader, McKinney, 5 others on crowded Green Party Presidential ballot

Five Green Party presidential candidates including consumer interest icon Ralph Nader and former Rep. Cynthia McKinney will be vying for votes on the ballot on "Super Tuesday" Feb. 5, making it the most competitive race for President in the history of the Green Party, said a party spokesperson today. Former Green Party presidential candidate (1996, 2000) Nader (www.draftnader.org) and former six-term Democratic Party congressperson McKinney (www.runcyntharun.org), who re-registered in the Green Party late last year, will be joined on the ballot by:

Jesse Johnson (www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMxgYnmdHfg), a filmmaker and 2006 Senate and 2004 gubernatorial candidate for the West Virginia Mountain Party;

Kent Mesplay (www.mesplay.org), a biomedical engineer who sought the Green Party presidential nomination in 2004;

Kat Swift (www.voteswift.org), the Texas State Party Co-chair, progressive activist and newspaper credit manager.

*NOTE: In fact, seven names will appear on the Green Party ballot. However, Dr. Jared Ball and Elaine Brown have dropped out of the race.

"This promises to be the most competitive presidential primary on record for the Green Party of California. And it comes at a time in our state and nation's history when voters need a real choice at the polls, and an opportunity to elect a President who will make a difference by ending the war in Iraq now, protecting our planet now and providing universal, single-payer health care for all," said Susan King, a GPCA spokesperson.

California holds the lion's share of delegates at the Green Party national nominating convention in Chicago in July, so the nominee here will carry much weight. -30-

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com