Re: Camejo-Huffington deal? (Kendall Clark)

Seems like this deal has been in the works for a while. It looked much 
better when Bustamante entered the race providing people with a 
Democratic Party alternative.

Anyway, this is what i wrote about the elections last week....

http://www.anarchogeek.com/archives/000167.html#000167

-evan

On Wednesday, August 13, 2003, at 02:00  PM, 
bonobos-request-4GNy1lrxftmrG/[email protected] wrote:

> Los Angeles Times - August 13, 2003
>
> Camejo, Huffington Form Unorthodox Alliance
> By Lee Romney, Times Staff Writer
>
> SAN FRANCISCO - Green Party gubernatorial candidate Peter Camejo 
> announced
> Tuesday that he and nonpartisan Arianna Huffington will jointly 
> campaign for
> issues in the coming months, then decide together near the end of the 
> race
> which candidate is better prepared to sprint to the finish line.
>
> Camejo made the announcement of the unorthodox partnership - which
> Huffington's campaign confirmed is in the planning stages - as consumer
> advocate Ralph Nader sat by Camejo's side to endorse him in the race.
>
> Nader - widely criticized by Democrats as a spoiler for drawing liberal
> votes away from former Vice President Al Gore in the 2000 presidential
> election - lauded Camejo's analysis of the state's budget mess, saying 
> it
> was one that "voters will not hear from any other candidate, except for
> Arianna Huffington."
>
> Then, in keeping with the burlesque and unpredictable atmosphere of the
> state's first gubernatorial recall, Nader was slammed in the face with 
> a pie
> as the news conference wound to a close.
>
> While Camejo had urged a civil campaign against his foes, the
> finger-pointing wasn't far behind.
>
> As Nader, 67, was ushered into a back room at the Green Party's
> headquarters to clean the pie filling from his face, Camejo responded
> angrily to reporters' questions about the incident.
>
> "I'm quite sure this attack came from a Democrat," said Camejo, who
> garnered 5% of the statewide vote in the gubernatorial election last 
> fall,
> but polled in the double digits in nine Democratic Northern California
> counties. "What that person just did physically is what the Democrats 
> have
> been doing to Nader ideologically I think it's sick."
>
> The perpetrator, who had blended in with the crowd of media 
> representatives
> before pulling the pie from a bag, escaped in the city's South of 
> Market
> district. Ross Mirkarimi, spokesman for the state Green Party, was more
> measured than Camejo, saying: "We don't know who did this. Nobody was 
> hurt."
>
> But the gloves had already come off.
>
> "Another absolute lie by Camejo," California Democratic Party campaign
> advisor Bob Mulholland said of Camejo's accusation. "I would predict 
> it was
> one of the other Green Party candidates on the ballot or one could 
> speculate
> it was an inside job, for press attention."
>
> San Francisco is famous for its renegade band of pie-throwers. A group 
> known
> as the Biotic Baking Brigade has pied Mayor Willie Brown, Chevron Chief
> Executive Ken Derr and others. But a reporter's e-mail to a contact
> described on the group's Web site as "Agent Apple" went unreturned 
> Tuesday.
>
> At the news conference, Camejo discussed his "fair tax" proposal, which
> would tax the wealthy at higher rates to relieve pressure on 
> lower-income
> working families that, he says, carry an unfair burden.  He assailed 
> Arnold
> Schwarzenegger for supporting the anti-illegal-immigration Proposition 
> 187,
> calling him "dead meat" in the eyes of Latino voters statewide.
>
> Most notably, he discussed his willingness to embrace Huffington's 
> campaign
> in an effort to get shared ideas before voters. For example, both 
> candidates
> support instant runoff voting, a system that would give minor party
> candidates a boost by allowing voters to rank their three top choices.
>
> What the partnership "means is that we work hard to get our message 
> out and
> near the end, if the Green Party agrees to make a shift and support 
> Arianna,
> we'll do that" and vice versa, Camejo said.
>
> Huffington's campaign was less firm. Camejo and Huffington are meeting 
> in
> San Francisco today to discuss the partnership, but whether Huffington 
> would
> be willing to jump out of the race to throw her support to Camejo is an
> issue that has not yet been broached, said press secretary Parker 
> Blackman.
>
> "It's in the early stages of the partnership," he said. "Given the wild
> nature of this whole thing, who knows who's going to stay in or get 
> out?"
>
> Huffington's Web site touts the union this way: "These two prominent
> progressives have forged a unique and powerful partnership. They have
> agreed to work together toward a common goal - making sure that a
> progressive sits in the governor's office after October 7."
>
> And Van Jones, Huffington's Northern California political director, 
> said
> joint appearances, joint announcements and linked Web sites are in the
> works.
>
> "The Democrats are fighting among themselves, the Republicans are 
> fighting
> among themselves," Jones said. "Meanwhile, the independents and 
> progressives
> are working together. Peter and Arianna realize there will be one 
> winner or
> loser on Oct. 7 - the people of California. Rather than running 
> against each
> other, they're going to be running with each other."
>
> With roughly 150 candidates likely to be in the mix, concerns over
> splitting the vote have become almost meaningless.
>
> Nader balked at the suggestion that his campaign spoiled the 2000
> presidential race for Gore, claiming that Florida fraud and Gore's own
> "lackluster campaign" were responsible for his defeat. In this race, 
> Nader
> said, with myriad candidates on the ballot and no runoff, the issue is 
> moot.
>
> "This is a different mix here," he said. "The vote is split a much 
> larger
> number of ways. The winner could win with 12% of the vote."
>
> California's Green Party has not yet formally endorsed Camejo.
>
> Party affiliates will decide the issue in a teleconference Thursday, 
> said
> Mirkarimi, although he said Camejo is "the most high profile" Green
> candidate running and is expected to win the endorsement.
>
>
> --__--__--
>
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