Greens ask members to register Dem to vote for Miles in primary

[Robb]

Robb's note: This letter came to the ex, a registered green. I do like Miles quite a bit, but Miles supporters have gotten to me, with the blanket statements about Salazar "supporting the war" without citations or context. It all seems a bit disingenuous to me, but I thought I'd share the letter because I'd be just as happy with either Democrat as senator.

Dear Fellow Greens,

Greens now face a dilemma in the Mike Miles vs Ken Salazar race to become the Democratic candidate to replace Ben Campbell as Senator. Miles is a progressive Democrat standing for nearly all of the 10 key Green Values. He has been standing up to Democratic leadership here in Colorado. They are really angry with him for upstaging Salazar at the State Democratic Convention. Miles beat Salazar, putting his name on the first line above Salazar for the Aug. 10 Democratic primary election.

Salazar is a right-wing Democratic "Good Old Boy", who co-chairs the Republican-like Democratic Leadership Council. Salazar supports the war, says that he would vote pretty much like Campbell, and endorsed Lieberman for president.

Miles on the other hand has a military background but opposed the Iraq war publicly long before it started. He has single payer health care as a major feature of his campaign. His positions are clearly stated and not lubricated with slip room as with many other candidates. He has pledged to keep an open log of all meetings that he holds with people outside of Congress.

For more info on the candidates, check out www.mikemiles4senate.com and www.salazarforcolorado.com.

Mike overcomes the criticisms made of many progressive candidates that they are not 'electable'. Mike is clearly electable. His support has increased tremendously in the past couple months. We think he will be the stronger candidate because he is convincing and inspiring with his straight talk and commitment to progressive ideals.

Although we are uncomfortable doing this, we are asking you to join us and temporarily register as a Democrat so that you can vote for Miles in the August primary, and then re-register as a Green right afterwards. This is easy to do. We are enclosing two registration forms...

(snip)

...Typically only a small percentage of people vote in the Democratic primaries (often only about 150,000 people), and this will be a close race. This means that our votes could push Miles over the top.

We can help put a distinctive progressive candidate in the race. (Just for your reassurance, we do not in general support Democrats. We continue to support Bob Kinsey in his race for Congress in CD4 as a Green, even though there is a Democrat now running).

We really hope that you will join us! Thanks for using your vote to take progressive action.

Sincerely,

Kell Carey
Ron Forthofer
Nancy (Harvey) McKenna
Judith Mohling
Rand Kokernot
Mark Sweitzer

[CO Liberal]

1. Too Late!!

Yesterday was the deadline for registering in time for the primary.

[F.Gordon]

2. Hi Wayne. I wondered about that.....

We do the absentee thingee and the deadline was a month or so ago for that. Got our ballots yesterday.

Two votes here for that "republican-lite war-monger" Ken Salazar. Hand delivering to the county tommorrow.

Let's hope all the Greens do this and miss the ballot, then screw themselves on the general election.

[Robb]

3. You're right

...I hadn't even thought about that. I didn't check the mail on Monday, so it might've been in the mailbox then. But it wasn't there on Saturday. :eyes:

[travisleit01]

4. NOT TRUE!

Voters who registered on or before yesterday can change party affiliation at their polling places on the Aug. 10th primary date.

[CO Liberal]

5. I Was Not Aware of That

The original message seems to talk about about voter registration, and the deadline for that was yesterday. I was unaware of the deadline for declaring your affiliation, because I've always been and will always be a Democrat.

[El Supremo]

8. Not quite

I had the secretary of the Arapahoe Democratic Party look it up for me last weekend.

Unaffiliateds can declare their preference at the primary, but Repugs and Dems can't. They must change their affiliation 29 days before the primary to vote in another party's election.

[CO Liberal]

9. Thanks for the Clarification

From soneone in Pueblo West who finally has it straight!!!

:hi:

[Freddie Stubbs]

6. Is it right for members of one party to try to influence another party's

nomination process? A lot of people here on DU get up in arms earlier this year when Republicans got involved in Democratic primaries.

[F.Gordon]

7. IMHO? No. It's certainly unethical

At least the Republicans didn't hide the fact that they were....republicans.

Do Libertarians and Reform Party people do this? "Pretend" to be republicans? Maybe so. I don't know.

For me this just goes to the heart of the matter with the Greens. They are seriously lacking in integrity. Instead of fielding a candidate of their own for US Senate, they want to dictate which candidate that another party chooses.