"AVOIDING THE EVIL OF TWO LESSORS" 3rd Party Politics w author Micah Sifry

Thursday, August 1, 2002 7:00pm "Avoiding the Evil of Two Lessors" Micah L. Sifry author of Spoiling for a Fight: Third-Party Politics in America speaking at Abandoned Planet Bookstore 518 Valencia Street (on Valencia St. between 16th & 17th Street, near 16th & Mission BART station) San Francisco, CA Author Micah L. Sifry, a former editor of The Nation, discusses his book and presents the prospects for new third-party efforts. As more Americans now identify as political independents than as either Democrats or Republicans, Micah offers incite into the rise of third-party politics. Micah details Ross Perot's ascendancy and the implosion of the Reform Party, how Jesse Ventura was elected Governor of Minnesota, the U.S. Supreme Court's hostility to new and minor political parties, the turbulence of Ralph Nader's Green Party run for the presidency, and third-parties new challenges to urban political machines and successes in winning local offices. Micah Sifry is Senior Analyst at Public Campaign, a nonpartisan campaign finance reform group. He is co-editor of The Gulf War Reader, and his work has appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, The American Prospect, The Progressive, Salon, Wired, and Tikkun. Lecture, discussion and book signing. Free. For more info: Jim Dorenkott jimdorenkott3@hotmail.com June Brashares 1-510-551-9689 ³No one knows third-party politics like Micah Sifry. Spoiling for a Fight delves deeply into the real story of today's outside-the-box politics and the threat posed by third parties to the stuck-in-the-muck two-party system. The past, present and future of America's third-parties: it's all here.² --David Corn, Washington Editor, The Nation *³At last, an engrossing book about Third Parties that is dynamic and portentous for the future of American Politics.² --Ralph Nader ³Finally, the whole story of the rise of third-party politics. If you want the facts on the revolution that's just beginning, read this book.² --Governor Jesse Ventura ³Both sobering and empowering. Whether you like Ross Perot, Jesse Ventura and Ralph Nader or want to wring their necks, you've got to read this book.²--Arianna Huffington *In this debut book, Sifry presents a vivid tapestry of the problems faced by, as well as the enormous potential promise of, alternative political parties. Always optimistic, Sifry is never naive (he details with precision how the Gore campaign countered Nader's popularity by addressing issues raised by the latter without ever integrating them into the Democratic platform) and presents a balanced, important and enlightened new way to think through the political process. -From Publishers Weekly *A must read for democracy reformers!² --Frances Fox Piven, co-author of Why Americans Still Don't Vote