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David Cobb goes from an upbringing in a San Leon Shrimping Village to topping Ralph Nader as Green Party Presidential Candidate.
Publisher's View
By John Ennis (Published 6/04)
In the election of 2000 the Green Party received national attention when its presidential candidate, consumer advocate Ralph Nader, won 2.7 percent of the vote.
Nader's candidacy infuriated many Democrats who believe he took votes from their candidate Al Gore and helped Republican George W. Bush win the closely contested election.
Four years later, not much has changed. Nader is making a fourth bid for the presidency and many Democrats are upset that he could cost their candidate John Kerry votes in what is likely to be another closely contested election.
But one difference is that in this president election Nader lost the Green Party's endorsement and is running as an independent.
Meanwhile, Bay Area product David Cobb is running for President touting the importance of third parties and arguing other Green Party priorities including protecting the environment, providing universal health care and ending the conflict in Iraq.
Cobb is a former Texas lawyer born in a shrimping village near San Leon and worked construction as a young adult until he eventually put himself through the University of Houston Law School by waiting tables. Cobb enjoyed a successful law practice until early 2000 when Nader asked him to manage the Green Party effort in Texas. While heading up the Texas Green Party, Cobb ran for Attorney General, coordinated a ballot access drive in Texas that collected more than 76,000 signatures in 75 days and expanding the Green Party's presence in our state from 4 to 26 chapters.
Cobb, who now resides in California, won the party's nomination at its convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and has been traveling the country promoting a "real change in government."
Although the Green Party received more votes in the 2000 presidential election than all of the other Third Parties – including the Reform Party, the Libertarian Party, the Constitution Party, the Natural Law Party and the Socialist Workers Party – combined, Cobb knows the White House is a longshot. He is more focused on the future by getting Green Party candidates elected to local and state offices.
"Candidates will come and go, but the Green Party is here to stay," Cobb said.
The "Ten Key Values of the Green Party" as ratified at the 2000 Green Party Convention in Denver are as follows:
1. Grassroots Democracy
2. Social Justice and Equal Opportunity
3. Ecological Wisdom
4. Non-violence
5. Decentralization
6. Community-Based Economics and Economic Justice
7. Feminism and Gender Equity
8. Respect for Diversity
9. Personal and Global Responsibility
10. Future Focus and Sustainability
While my vote is not likely to go "GREEN" in November, I do acknowledge the importance of Third Parties. Throughout history, Third Parties have brought societal problems that the major parties were failing to confront to the forefront of public discourse and onto the governmental agenda.
Cobb isn't headed for the White House and is not likely to go down in Third Party history with past candidates like Pat Buchanan, George C. Wallace, Theodore Roosevelt or even fellow Texas product Ross Perot. But he is playing a significant role in American politics and has done well since his days working construction in San Leon.
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Bay Runner publisher John Ennis is a CCISD product and former Cox News Service journalist who returned to the Clear Lake area in 1997 and eventually launched Bay Area Media Services (BAMS.us) with his wife Betsey. He is also co-founder and publisher of The SCENE magazine.
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