It is nice to see there are other researchers in the world that do not mind being labled mad.

Aristotle, Metaphysics 340BC

Suppose, then, that all men were sick or deranged, save one or two of them who were healthy and of right mind. It would then be the latter two who would be thought to be sick and deranged and the former not!

see my website, topic thread Metal Dementia.

Here in New York, things did not go so well.  Malachy McCourt, the Green candidate for governor, running against the popular, juggernaut-like Democrat, Eliot Spitzer, got 1% of the vote in all counties save Manhattan, where he got 2% (including my own).  Howie Hawkins, the Green candidate for Senator, running against the rather more controversial Hillary Rodham Clinton, did somewhat better, but not much.

The Green hope was to win 5% of the vote, so that, in accord with complicated election-board rules, their party and their candidates would automatically be listed on the ballot for the next eight years, without their having to jump through hoops.  I believe they now intend to bring to court their contention that the "5%" thing is unfairly interpreted to mean that a single candidate must receive 5% of the vote in that candidate's particular race.  Rather, they say, it should be interpreted to refer to all the votes that all the party's candidates received.  And in fact, they point out, McCourt and Hawkins were by far the best third-place finishers in their races.  And on the other hand, the Working Families Party, which has a set place on the ballot, manages that only because it runs the Democratic candidate as its own.  (In fact, we registered Democrats were encouraged by some of our party leaders to vote for Eliot Spitzer in the "Working Families" column, not in the "Democratic" column, supposedly in order to "send a message," because the Working Families platform is more progressive than the Democratic platform.)

So, in sum, there was no Green victory, but I do not think it was a significant defeat either.  Hopefully there will be some profitable reformation at this point.  My feeling is, they must make a deeply thoughtful environmental program their heart and their foundation.  The Bush-bashing is fine, the socially liberal agenda is fine, things like that should not be abandoned, but it must be clear that they come second.

On the unrelated Green Party's Senatorial candidate in Virginia, who considered withdrawing and endorsing "one of the other candidates, but in the end decided not to," and so now may seem to have played the Ralph-Nader-in-2000 role, my feeling is: This is not a good thing, that the word "green" and the word "megalomaniac" are coming to be more and more closely associated.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

I might point out as well that this woman was running as an "Independent Green" which is not the same as the Green Party of Virginia.  So this couldn't be a case of Green "megalomania" in the first place!!!

And finally,  don't you find it odd that, time after time, Grist refuses to even acknowledge the existence of the Green Party?   Their headline "A Green Party" referred to celebrations by Democrats and their candidates, and completely overshadowed, nay ignored, gains made by candidates of the Green Party.
It's only us commenters who made mention of the impressive vote tallies of some of our big G Green candidates.
That's pretty ridiculous for a site that claims to be The Environmental News Blog, don't you think?

If multiparty democracy is good enough for our troops to die for in Iraq, it's good enough for the U.S. to enact! Register, vote, respect third parties!