Category Archives: Politics

Green Party’s Stein: End corporate control, ‘endless war’

Elections, Independents and third parties, Politics

By Steve Brawner, © 2024 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Arkansans’ ballots will have four independent presidential candidates who are still in the race. Today, let’s meet the Green Party’s Dr. Jill Stein, the one Democrats don’t want to be there.

They fear Stein, the most liberal candidate on Arkansans’ ballots, will siphon votes from Vice President Kamala Harris. Some people believe her 1.4 million votes in 2016 cost Hillary Clinton the election.

Stein doesn’t see it that way. 

“That’s the nature of democracy,” she told me by phone from her home outside Boston. “I’m sorry. Do we say that Republicans are stealing votes from Democrats? No, they have different agendas and different points of view.”

Indeed, Stein’s agenda is very different than those of Democrats and Republicans, both of which she described as beholden to corporations. Continue reading Green Party’s Stein: End corporate control, ‘endless war’ →

Family losses from alcohol led Wood to Prohibition Party

Health care, Independents and third parties, Politics

By Steve Brawner, © 2024 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Why would Michael Wood, 66, a former head of an e-commerce company and married father of two, run for president as the nominee of the anti-alcohol Prohibition Party?

It’s partly because when he was a young man, one cousin drank himself to death at a college fraternity party, while another family member was injured by a drunk driver.

The Prohibition Party has existed since 1869, making it the nation’s oldest third party. It has fielded a presidential candidate in every election since 1872. It is best known historically for supporting a national ban on alcohol sales, a stance it does not take today. 

Wood will be one of five non-major party presidential candidates on the Arkansas ballot, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has dropped out of the race. The others are Chase Oliver with the Libertarian Party, Peter Sonski with the American Solidarity Party, and Jill Stein with the Green Party. Wood’s vice presidential running mate is John Pietrowski. Continue reading Family losses from alcohol led Wood to Prohibition Party →

Arkansas Democrats hope this election is ‘inflection point’

Elections, Politics

By Steve Brawner, © 2024 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Could this be the election where Arkansas Democrats reverse a decade-and-a-half slide that has left them at times nearly powerless in deciding which laws get passed?

The party’s strategy director, Will Watson, thinks so.

Watson and other Democrats are encouraged by a new poll the party commissioned that described at least 17 competitive “battleground” state legislative districts. Republicans represent 14 while Democrats represent three. Continue reading Arkansas Democrats hope this election is ‘inflection point’ →

Maybe Asa would run with No Labels after all

Politics

By Steve Brawner, © 2024 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Could former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson be considering a third party presidential bid after all? He’s not shutting the door.

I texted the governor Wednesday evening after hearing through the grapevine that No Labels may be considering him as a potential candidate. That’s the group that’s been trying to put together an independent “Unity” ticket composed of a Republican and a Democrat.

The text conversation occurred a week-and-a-half after one March 11 when he said he was not the right candidate, and the group would need someone with a bigger profile and more money than he. He said he was considering other options in the private sector.

Asked in that second text conversation Wednesday if he was still not interested, he wrote, “No one offers the experience I have. If they can show a path to win and the money needed then I will listen to them.”  Continue reading Maybe Asa would run with No Labels after all →