Paul Demko reports at the Politics in Minnesota blog,
Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate and frequent presidential candidate, is supporting Ken Pentel in the governor’s race. Pentel is running on the Ecology Democracy ticket, a fledgling political party that he created.
Pentel has made two previous runs for the state’s top office under the Green Party banner. In 2002 he drew support from 2.3 percent of voters; four years later he failed to top one percent [Note: in 1998 Pentel drew 0.3% as the Green nominee; in 2006 he drew 0.49%].
“In a 2000 Business Week poll, over 70% of the people said corporations have too much control over their lives,” Nader said in a statement announcing the endorsement. “This was before the corporate outrages, corporate militarism and Wall Street Collapse, recession and bailout of the past decade. Ken Pentel gets this feeling by a large majority of Americans in an experienced and knowledgeable way. He is a long time Minnesotan, fighter for fairness, justice and wise and healthy use of natural resources – air, water, soil, energy.”
Pentel also had a booth at a busy thoroughfare at the Minnesota state fair last week.
Three other minor parties are also fielding candidates. Among those is Farheen Hakim, a longtime Green Party activist. The prominent Independence Party is running former GOP staffer and PR executive Tom Horner for the state’s top post.
summer in Mint A Soda:
July 31st and August First
Two Months of Horrible Snow Boarding
10,000 Lakes, 10T mosquitoes
Going to school in deep snow, up hill, both ways
Using Moose Droppings as third base
in Minnesota now*
I am also living in Minnesota no.
Thanks for the point that it was three times he ran as a Green, I will edit the article to reflect that.
I understand the Minnesota IP is not a minor party. That is why I described them as “prominent” and did not include Horner with the other minor party candidates (that is, Eno, Hakim, Wright, and Pentel). However, the Minnesota IP is definitely a third party, and still worth mentioning in IPR articles much like we still report on the Vermont Progressive Party and the Illinois Green Party.
Couple of points, from Minnesot-ah.
First Ken Pentel has run three times before as the Green party candidate. He is no longer a Green and is now launching a new political party called Ecology Democracy Party for his fourth run.
Second the Independence Party is not a minor party. It is Minnesota’s third major political party. It seems to be becoming the Republican lite party since the Repubs are kind of going on the crazy train.
He will lose badly.
Kavlan and my other detractors will probably be happy to learn that starting tomorrow I will need to take another break from IPR, as I have another important mission. But the cause of Catholic Trotskyism is still alive and well.