2012 Campaign Notes

Dear Greens and Friends,

Thank you to all Virginia Greens who supported our three candidates on the ballot this year. I thank everyone who got signatures for the candidates to get on the ballot; for helping distribute campaign literature, and who gave of their own money and time to help them.

Jill Stein for President got about 8,000 votes (0.3%) statewide, fairly well distributed across the state with slightly more in the 8th, 11th and 1st Congressional Districts. Audrey Clement got 9,400 votes in Arlington County Board of Supervisors election or 12 percent of the total votes cast. Green Joe Galdo in his first campaign for office for the 11th Congressional seat in Fairfax area got about 1,200 votes.

Arlington Greens have had a Green candidate for county board for six years straight. Audrey got the highest percentage of the vote for any Green facing both a Republican and Democratic candidate. In 2009, the Green candidate got about 32 percent of the vote against only a Democratic candidate for County Board in Arlington.

Unfortunately, Jill Stein only got about 350 votes in Arlington County. Despite Audrey's excellent vote results, many Green voters for local candidates showed they would not vote for our national Green presidential candidate.

With that said, Jill Stein got nearly three times the number of votes our 2008 Green candidate Cynthia McKiney received. Nationwide, once the counting is through, Stein is expected to get over 1 million votes, the highest for any Green candidate since Ralph Nader in 2000. The Stein campaign did well and was organized, despite widespread media blackout and considering its lack of funding.

By contrast, the two major parties spent a reported $2 billion directly for the presidential race, plus independent political campaign comittees funded largely by rich people and corporations spent probably another $2 billion. With about 135 million votes cast, the two major parties and their corporate allies spent about $35 per vote cast.

Jill Stein Campaign weblink : http://www.jillstein.org
Audrey Clement Campaign weblink : http://audreyclement.org

Thanks,

--John Reeder

Thank you for volunteering on behalf of the Stein, Clement, and Galdo campaigns!