Shout out and thank you to Bob Fitrakis
The constant media shut out. The baseless criticisms of party first, ideas last, Democrats. The empty war-chest of a third-party campaign. There were a million reasons the 2006 campaign was painfully frustrating.
But when you're right, it makes all the BS worthwhile. Well, Bob Fitrakis was right – about almost everything.
It's rare that there's a candidate worth voting for, blogging for, organizing for, or busting your knees campaigning the hills of Cincinnati for; Bob Fitrakis was one of those rare candidates.
As Bob touched on in one of the two nights the GP spent at Mac's Pizza Pub over vegan pizza and green beer, real change is never brought to the table by power-brokers in three piece suits. Genuine change comes from the people rallying around a makeshift podium in a cramped bar. The type of event where 8 people gather around 4 person tables for a righteous idea like social justice to do something new in the world – unlike the "real party of the people," it never costs $1000 to get a spot at a table like that.
The vote total was one percent. Whatever. 37,000+ is a lot of people. It's only the beginning. Greens are picking up offices all over the country (I'm looking mainly at California and other enlightened states) and Ohio will come in time.
Bob Fitrakis is a trailblazer. While big-money politicians talk about it, Bob Fitrakis actually ran a pure grassroots campaign. No money, a limited staff, and only a small built-in infrastructure of Greens equals a real pain in the ass. But he slipped on his superman tights (figuratively) and fought the good fight.
I had the chance to ask him why one time. "What else are you going to do?" he said. Simple worlds that he elaborated on, but that's the answer. When the two major parties are wrong, and they are, someone has to step up and say so. It takes guts.
So thanks to Bob and everyone who was willing to put in the time to help him. It takes a courageous person to put their time and money behind a candidate who probably isn't going to win. But like I said, when something is right, it's right – whether you win or lose that never changes.
Thanks to Tim Kettler for all the same reasons. I didn't get to work with him as much, but this guy was as blue collar as a candidate could be. If you gave him a time and a place, he showed up in his suit ready to shake hands and answer questions. He'd drive himself across the state and back again in the early morning to get home to his family or to get ready for his next event.
The effort is appreciated more than I can express. We heard the message and we'll help keep it alive.
But when you're right, it makes all the BS worthwhile. Well, Bob Fitrakis was right – about almost everything.
It's rare that there's a candidate worth voting for, blogging for, organizing for, or busting your knees campaigning the hills of Cincinnati for; Bob Fitrakis was one of those rare candidates.
As Bob touched on in one of the two nights the GP spent at Mac's Pizza Pub over vegan pizza and green beer, real change is never brought to the table by power-brokers in three piece suits. Genuine change comes from the people rallying around a makeshift podium in a cramped bar. The type of event where 8 people gather around 4 person tables for a righteous idea like social justice to do something new in the world – unlike the "real party of the people," it never costs $1000 to get a spot at a table like that.
The vote total was one percent. Whatever. 37,000+ is a lot of people. It's only the beginning. Greens are picking up offices all over the country (I'm looking mainly at California and other enlightened states) and Ohio will come in time.
Bob Fitrakis is a trailblazer. While big-money politicians talk about it, Bob Fitrakis actually ran a pure grassroots campaign. No money, a limited staff, and only a small built-in infrastructure of Greens equals a real pain in the ass. But he slipped on his superman tights (figuratively) and fought the good fight.
I had the chance to ask him why one time. "What else are you going to do?" he said. Simple worlds that he elaborated on, but that's the answer. When the two major parties are wrong, and they are, someone has to step up and say so. It takes guts.
So thanks to Bob and everyone who was willing to put in the time to help him. It takes a courageous person to put their time and money behind a candidate who probably isn't going to win. But like I said, when something is right, it's right – whether you win or lose that never changes.
Thanks to Tim Kettler for all the same reasons. I didn't get to work with him as much, but this guy was as blue collar as a candidate could be. If you gave him a time and a place, he showed up in his suit ready to shake hands and answer questions. He'd drive himself across the state and back again in the early morning to get home to his family or to get ready for his next event.
The effort is appreciated more than I can express. We heard the message and we'll help keep it alive.
fritakis got his but kickied by PIERCE!!!!! Sad, sad, sad. Most people didn't even know who he was, let alone care
Posted by Yossarian | 11:48 AM
"Sad, sad, sad. Most people didn't even know who he was, let alone care"
The same could be said about Yossarian, but nobody cares enough to do it. I guess you'll have to cry in your beers for Wulsin and Cranley. All that corporate money spent and they couldn't beat two of the worst candidates in Congress. What a suprise!
Posted by Anonymous | 1:55 PM
Good post Andrew. Tim Kettler, Anita Rios and Bob Fitrakis do deserve many thanks. It's great to have a few candidates worth voting for.
There's no way I would vote for a bum like Cranley or Wulsin. It's too bad the game is so rigged by the corporate media. If Strickland had to debate Fitrakis, it would've been curtains.
I don't blame Strickland for being scared to debate. Just like Kerry was too scared to debate Nader, if your record sucks and your platform is "I'm not the Republican" you better stay away from Greens with good ideas.
What a bucnh of chickenshits.
Posted by Anonymous | 2:01 PM
Ist of all, I didn't run for governor (Heck, I didn't even run for city council) And bob only beat me by one percent - so that aint bad.
2nd of all, Are you happy that chabot and schmidt won? WTF is wrong with you? I don't remember seeing a green candidate running. Are you anti-Democratic party or anti-reality?
lastly - no one gives a shit to a guy who barely represents the fringe of society (yes Andrew 1% is the fringe) and to debate that is to give it more credit, time, and consideration than it's worth.
Posted by Yossarian | 12:46 PM
Yossarian,
You like I care what percentage of the vote Fitrakis ended up with. You act as if I care if the Green platform is "fringe."
I can't help that the will of voters is generally wrong and short-sighted when it comes to electing candidates.
Greens/Real Progressives are making up ground throughout the nation. For example, Greens now have a mayor in a city of 100,000+ people now (Richmond, CA). Greens took about 11% of the vote for governor in Illinois – a midwestern state just like Ohio.
Yossarian, Fitrakis and Kettler are the first statewide candidates for Ohio's Green Party. That is growth.
We'll see how things progress over the next couple of years.
Posted by Andrew Warner | 4:40 PM
Once again Yossarian shows his contempt for democracy and progressive ideas. Fitrakis got almost 40,000 votes and Kettler got 70,000.
I oppose pro-war candidates like Cranley and Chabot. It's not our job to get your shitty candidates elected. All that corporate money and they lose to the worst of Republicans. It's because they are out of touch with the public and don't stand for their base, they move farther right every election.
Nixon's policies were to the left of Clinton and Kerry's. Greens aren't on the fringe, they just don't get a fair shake in these corporatized debates and elections. Just because you don't give a shit about what other candidates ideas are and will blindly vote for the D, doesn't mean that everyone feels that way.
In a real Democracy candidates on the ballot would get fair coverage and be included in the debates, but we don't have anything close to that.
Bob Fitrakis and the Greens stand for peace, living wages, clean elections, alternative energy and the bill of rights. If those are "fringe" ideas than we are proud to represent them. Please remind us of what the corporate democrats stand for again, or do you even know.
Posted by Anonymous | 5:44 PM
Yaw.....neither of these fringe candidates got mre than 1.78% of the vote. Fitrakis barely got 1%.
Posted by John Galt | 6:08 PM