A week and a half after independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader addressed a capacity crowd in Salomon 101, Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb will speak at Brown this weekend to discuss corporate power, the occupation of Iraq and electoral reforms.
The Brown Green Party, which is sponsoring the lecture, invited Cobb to campus when members found out that he would be in Providence on Sunday.
"We'd thought it might be interesting to hear what (Cobb) has to say, especially since Nader came by recently," said James DeBoer '05, a leader of the Brown Greens. "Brown is a logical spot for a Green candidate to come by, especially since we have a local Green official in (Ward 1 City Councilman) David Segal."
DeBoer encouraged students, especially Kerry supporters, to listen to Cobb speak.
"Kerry gets a free ride - Kerry gets the votes of progressives without anyone second-guessing him at all," DeBoer said. "Cobb's message is that Kerry doesn't deserve any of the votes and doesn't need all of the votes. Kerry has stances that progressives don't really believe in."
Cobb, who is running with vice-presidential candidate Pat LaMarche, was nominated this summer during a deeply divided Green Party national convention.
Nader, the Green candidate in 2000, did not seek the party nomination this year. Instead, he attempted to convince the party to endorse his candidacy instead of nominating its own candidate. Nader's strategy was to collect as many endorsements as possible from several independent groups, such as the Reform Party. Nader failed to obtain an endorsement from the Green Party, and Cobb, a 41-year-old lawyer from Texas, emerged as the party's presidential nominee.
Although Nader gained 3 percent of the national vote for the Green Party in 2000, the party is having much less success this year, polling less than 1 percent of the national vote in recent polls. And so far, the Green ticket is only on the ballot in 29 states, compared to 44 state ballots in 2000.
In addition, Nader's independent candidacy is overshadowing Cobb's presidential run. While Nader is currently projected to garner 1 percent of the national vote, according to a Washington Post poll conducted from Oct. 12-14, Cobb's name is not usually mentioned in national polls or election coverage. The Green Party is also not campaigning in swing states.
Cobb will speak Sunday at 3 p.m. in Wilson 101.
