2008 Green National Convention

2008 presidential election
Nominees McKinney and Clemente
Convention
Date(s)	July 10–14, 2008
City	Chicago, Illinois
Venue	Palmer House Hilton(July 10, 11 and 13) Symphony Center(July 12)
Candidates
Presidential nominee	Cynthia McKinney ofGeorgia
Vice-presidential nominee	Rosa Clemente ofNew York
Other candidates	Chm. Kat Swift (TX)
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Sites of the 2008 national presidential nominating conventions

The2008 Green National Convention took place on July 10–14, 2008 inChicago, Illinois at thePalmer House Hilton andSymphony Center.^[1] This served as both the venue for the National Convention and the Annual Meeting of theGreen Party of the United States.

The convention was headquartered at the historic Palmer House Hilton, while the nomination event itself took place at the nearbySymphony Center on July 12.^[2]

The theme of the convention was, "Live Green, Vote Green".^[2]

Main Events

• Introductory news conference and a reception for international Greens.^[2]
• Welcome Reception with International Greens^[3]

Additional Events

• Credentialing Committee meeting^[3]
• Accreditation Committee meeting^[3]
• Diversity Caucus meeting^[3]
• Platform Committee meeting^[3]
• Lavender Caucus meeting^[3]
• International Committee Meeting^[3]
• Ballot Access Committee Meeting^[3]
• National Women's Caucus^[3]
• New York State Caucus^[3]
• Bylaws, Rules, Policies & Procedures (BRPP) Committee Meeting^[3]
• California State Caucus^[3]
• Workshops:^[3][4]
  • GPUS Budget & Finances in General: Input, Q&A, and more (presented byJody Grage andJim Coplen)
  • Selling Yourself Without Selling Out (hosted byScott McLarty)
  • A Clear Path Towards Dismantling and Ending All "ism" (Racism, sexism, classism and white privilege) within the Green Party by 2012 (facilitated bySedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza-Curry)
  • Viral Campaign Marketing (presented byJim Carr)
  • What Every Candidate Should Know (presentedBrent McMillan)
  • What is Local Democracy? Building from the Bottom Up for Political Power (led byJuscha E. M. Robinson,Brenda Konkel,Pete Karas)

Main events

• National Committee Meeting
• News conferences for elected Greens, Green presidential candidates, and candidates for other offices^[2]
• Presidential Candidates Forum.^[2] moderated by Rich Whitney^{[2][5][citation needed]}
• Evening reception withJohn Nichols^[3]

Other Events

• Morning Yoga^[3]
• Eco-Action Committee meeting^[3]
• Presidential Candidate Support Committee meeting^[3]
• Outreach Committee meeting^[3]
• Black Caucus meeting^[3]
• Dispute Resolution Committee meeting^[3]
• Disability Caucus meeting^[3]
• Youth Caucus meeting^[3]
• Maine State Caucus meeting^[3]
• Latino Caucus meeting^[3]
• Workshops^[3][4]
  • Fundraising 101 (featuring panelists LaVerne Butler, Angel Torres, George Martin,David Cobb, Jody Grange, Emily Citkowski, Tamar Yager)
  • The Role of Peace Movement in an Election Year (presented by Bruce Gagnon, Steve Shafarman and moderated by Ann Wilcox)
  • What is Central to the Green Message: Ecology? Democracy? Social Justice? (presented Gloria Mattera, Ben Manski andJohn Rensenbrink, moderated by Mary Beth Sullivan)
  • Sustainable Activism (presented by Alison Duncan)
  • The 60th Anniversaries of the Palestinian Catastrophe (Nakba) and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Green Party's Response
  • The Constitutional MAP for Voter Disenfranchisement
  • Update on NAFTA and the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP)
  • The Law of Diminishing Returns as a Principle for Deciding How to Deal with the Need to Reduce Consumption to Restore the Environment
  • Organizing Online for Everyone
  • Campaign Fundraising
  • Candidate Messaging
  • Making Green Food Choices – How our diet affects animals and the environment
  • Democratizing the Electoral College
  • Endless War and the Military-Industrial- Governmental Complex
  • Red, Black, Brown and 'Green': Positive Solutions to the Issues of Poverty, Immigration and Environment Destruction
  • A Democracy Movement for the U.S.A.
  • The Basic Income Guarantee - and the Power of Green Economics

Main events

• Platform vote
• Keynote speeches byCliff Thornton,Kathy Kelly,Malik Rahim,Jill Stein, Omar López^[3]
• Speeches by Green Party presidential candidates^[3]
• Presidential nomination vote^[2]
• Vice presidential nomination and speech^[2]
• Presidential speech^[2]
• Press conference^[2]
• Post-convention reception at Palmer House^[2]

Main events

• National Committee meeting with the new presidential nominee^[3]

Other events

• Morning meditation led by Lewie Pell of the Network for Spiritual Progressives^[3]
• Green Alliance Meeting^[3]
• Workshops:^[3]
  • Agrarian Revival at the End of Cheap Oil
  • What to say when you're called a spoiler: instant runoff voting & proportional representation
  • LGBT Activism: Recent Victories and Future Goals
  • History of US-Iranian Relations and Its Impact on Current Tensions Regarding Iranian Nuclear Power
  • Strategic Thinking for Campaigns
  • Elections for Radicals

Notable speakers included:^{[2][3][4][6][7]}

The presidential nomination took place July 12 at Chicago's Symphony Center.^[2]

• 
  Withdrew
  Jared Ball ofMaryland, college professor and journalist
• 
  Withdrew
  Elaine Brown, formerBlack Panther Party chairwoman
• 
  Jesse Johnson^[2] ofWest Virginia, formerMountain Party candidate forUS Senate andGovernor of West Virginia
• 
  Cynthia McKinney^[2] ofGeorgia, formerCongresswoman fromGeorgia's4th district^[8][9]
  (Campaign •Website)
• 
  Kent Mesplay^[2] ofCalifornia, California Delegate to the Green National Committee
• 
  Kat Swift^[2] ofTexas, co-chair of Texas Green Party

Green presidential nomination ballot^[10][11]

Delegation	Cynthia McKinney	Ralph Nader	Kat Swift	Kent Mesplay	Jesse Johnson	Elaine Brown	Jared Ball	Other
Arizona	6	0	0	1	1	0	0	0
Arkansas	4	0	1	1	0	0	1	1
Black Caucus	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
California	23	52	3	2	1	4	1	0
Colorado	3	0	2	2	0	5	0	0
Connecticut	10	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Delaware	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Washington, D.C.	13	1	1	0	0	0	1	0
Florida	11	2	2	1	0	0	0	0
Georgia	7	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Hawaii	5	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Illinois	25	8	0	6	0	0	5	0
Indiana	6.5	0	0	1.5	0	0	0	0
Iowa	3	0	2	1	1	0	0	1
Lavender Caucus	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Louisiana	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Maine	15	0	1	0.5	1.5	0	0	0
Maryland	6	0	3	3	4	0	0	0
Massachusetts	13	3	1	3	1	0	0	0
Michigan	17	4	1	1	1	0	0	0
Minnesota	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Mississippi	4	0	2	2	0	0	0	0
Missouri	5	0	1	0	2	0	0	0
Montana	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Nebraska	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
New Jersey	6	1	0	1	1	0	0	1
New York	28.5	2.5	0	2	3	0	0	0
North Carolina	5	0	0	1	2	0	0	0
Ohio	3	1	0	0	1	0	0	1
Oregon	9	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Pennsylvania	10	2	0.5	1	2	0	0	2.5
Rhode Island	5	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
South Carolina	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Tennessee	5	0	1	1	1	0	0	0
Texas	1	0	10	0	1	0	0	0
Utah	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Virginia	2	3	1	0	1	0	0	1
Washington	10	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
West Virginia	2	0	0	0	6	0	0	0
Wisconsin	19	1	1	2	0	0	0	1
Women's Caucus	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Total delegates	324	85.5	38.5	35	32.5	9	8	8.5

After McKinney's nomination, the convention delegates selected her stated choice of running mate,Rosa Clemente, for the vice-presidential nomination through a voice vote of delegates.^[12]

• Official Press Release

• State Delegate voting part 1
• State Delegate voting part 2
• Cynthia McKinney Acceptance Speech
• Vote and Rosa Clemente Acceptance Speech
• David Cobb Convention Speech
• Malik Rahim Keynote Speech
• Omar López Keynote Speech
• Malik Rahim congressional candidate Louisiana
• Jesse Johnson addresses Convention Delegates

• Official Convention Website
• Green Party 2008 Campaign Web Page
• Presidential Nomination Delegate Count

• Green Party of the United States National Conventions
• 2008 United States presidential election
• 2008 in Illinois
• Political conventions in Chicago
• Cynthia McKinney
• 2008 conferences
• July 2008 in the United States
• 2000s political conferences

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