CAMEJO WINS PRESIDENTIAL NOD; LEADS STRONG, DIVERSE GREEN PARTY SLATE OF CANDIDATES INTO NOVEMBER

GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release: March 3, 2004

Contacts:
Susan King, Campaigns & Candidates Co-Coordinator, 415-823-5524,
Magali Offerman, Campaigns & Candidates Co-Coordinator, 858-578-4505,
Ross Mirkarimi, GPCA Spokesperson, 415-412-7526,

SACRAMENTO - The Green Party will send a strong and diverse slate of candidates into the November elections - led by Peter Camejo, who received the lion's share of delegate in the state Green Party Presidential primary Tuesday night.

The Greens will also field 11 - and possibly 12 - candidates for Congress. In addition, four Greens will stand for state Assembly positions in November, and one will run for a state Senate spot.

"The Green Party grows stronger with each election. On Tuesday, we ran a record number of partisan candidates and had a number of contested primaries. This fall, we will run a strong, diverse slate of candidates for offices at all levels," said Magali Offerman, co-chair of the California Green Party Campaigns and Candidates Working Group.

Among the 17 Green races for state or federal office, three were contested. Camejo, the former Green gubernatorial candidate, won 99 of 132 state delegates, garnering 75.4 percent of the vote. Former US Green Party general counsel David Cobb won 16 delegates, trailed by Lorna Salzman (14) and Kent Mesplay (3).

In other contested races, Pat Gray (69.9 percent) defeated Barry Hermanson (30.1 percent) in the 12th Congressional District (San Mateo/SF) and Pamela Elizondo (54.5 percent) edged Bill Meyers (45.5 percent) in the Congressional 1st (North Coast).

Other Green federal candidates who will advance to the General election this November are: Pat Driscoll, CD 5; Ray Greunich Glock CD 17; Larry Mullen CD 19; Stuart Bechman CD 24; Eric Carter CD 27; Phillip Kobel CD 29; Thomas Lash CD 46; Gary Waayers CD 50; Lawrence Rockwood CD 53. Green state office candidates are: Warner Bloomberg AD 23; John Crockford AD 29; Thomas Hutchings AD 33; Adrienne Prince AD 37 and Ryen Madsen SD 15.

And, in the 8th Congressional District, Green Terry Baum could be the 12th party Congressional candidate. She won't know until later this week if she will become the first third party candidate in the state since 1968 to win a party's nomination for Congress via the write-in method. She had 1,444 votes Tuesday night, 161 short of the 1,605 needed. But more than 10,000 provisional, absentee and "spoiled" ballots are still to be hand counted in San Francisco. -30-

The Green Party of California
http://www.cagreens.org
P.O. Box 2828, Sacramento, CA 95812
Phone: (916) 448-3437
gpca@greens.org