CAMEJO: FEET OF CLAY

I wasn't around for the Progressive Alliance so I don't know about it.

But here is what the Green Party press release said about his 2003 governor campaign. I imagine his 2001 campaign was good practice and organization building for 2003.

"Many national commentators lauded Camejo as a serious candidate with a sound platform budget plan, increasing Green Party credibility nationwide. San Francisco Chronicle political writer John Wildermuth praised Camejo's performance in the debates, calling him an "articulate advocate" for the Greens, and declared that "Camejo isn't going to be California's next governor, but the Green Party candidate wasn't a loser in Tuesday's election" (October 8).

After the September 24 'Superbowl' debate, 32% of respondents chose Camejo as the winner in a poll conducted by the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner. The Los Angeles Times found that among Democrats, 25% saw Camejo as the winner, compared to 13% for Democrat Cruz Bustamante.

Camejo's favorable ratings increased after each debate, according to a California Field Poll, with upwards of 2 million Californians giving Camejo's candidacy positive marks by the end of the campaign.

In early October, when the League of Women Voters and media sponsors initially barred Camejo from the final two debates, the public responded with more than 20,000 letters of protest sent to debate sponsors. Greens note that the Commission on Presidential Debates, which are controlled by the Democratic and Republican parties, are unresponsive to the public's demand for inclusion of third party and independent candidates."

In sum I am glad that Camejo was tough; we need more tough not wimpy lefties or Greens. I am glad he had money; the movement needs money and a lot of it to corral this evil empire. Remember, this is not a playground tussle we are in.

GDI's purpose was to establish proportional representation in the GP at the national level to counter the disproportionate amount of power that the small states who were token organizations were wielding.

Nonetheless, I think you made the right choice-staying away-; when organizers are so tough that they are hard to be with find another group there is plenty of work to do in many ways.

BTW I never met a Camejo accolyte; I met comrades, friends, co-workers and supporters. Accolyte as a perjorative smacks of-on the one hand- royal superiority or -on the other-betrays that you don't understand that some people can be with very strong people and still keep a sense of themselves; they could even challenge Peter politically without making enemies.

Peter was especially brilliant, almost perfect SATs in math; thrown out of Berkeley; goes to MIT, organized all his life. We could be so lucky if we could make our movements interesting enough to attract especially gifted people like he that they would give up the perks the established order offers.
Maybe not, there are some that want all members of the movement to be of average intelligence and skills. Not me; I want to win some victories.

I always said Peter was a good candidate and spokesperson.

Never said he was con-artist, but if you like big man politics, well then go follow the big man....