Life has become interesting over the past month for Green Party gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein. After living in relative obscurity for the campaign’s first 10 months, strong performances in the race’s two five-person debates and voter frustration with the two mainstream candidates have made her a factor as voters hit the polls throughout Massachusetts today.
Stein has recently drawn the votes of some Democrats and the ire of others who say they see too many similarities between Stein’s 2002 run and Ralph Nader’s efforts in the 2000 presidential election, which some say cost Democrat Al Gore the victory. With the race between Democrat Shannon O’Brien and Republican Mitt Romney in a dead heat, Stein’s recent surge has pressed O’Brien’s campaign and other members of the state Democratic Party into frantic appeals to the state’s progressive voters as they try to convince them that a vote for Stein is a vote for Romney. Recent polls by The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald have pegged her as taking anywhere between four and seven percent of the vote, making her a larger factor than previously anticipated.
But if O’Brien pulls up short in Tuesday’s election, Stein says she won’t take any of the blame. In an interview from the campaign trail yesterday, Stein said O’Brien will only be able to look at herself in allocating responsibility should a Republican take the corner office for a fourth straight term.
‘If progressives are bowing out of Shannon’s campaign, it’s because she’s failed to capture their minds,’ Stein said.
Stein said her campaign ‘went public’ after her performance in the first debate with all five gubernatorial candidates, though she said her campaign has always consisted of themes that are ‘as American as apple pie.’ The campaign’s major limiting factor has been a lack of media coverage, she said.
‘You don’t have to be left-leaning to believe that governments should be accountable,’ she said.
The Democratic Party’s battle to retain liberal votes has kicked into overdrive over the past several weeks. The party has dispatched Robert Reich, who touted his progressive credentials throughout a failed bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, to parts of the state with particularly liberal-leaning reputations, according to party spokesperson Jane Lane.
O’Brien also appeared Sunday at Tufts University with several standout liberal Democrats, including Reich, United States Representative Barney Frank and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Warren Tolman, and the party has papered liberal strongholds with letter appeals from Reich in recent weeks.
Boston University Political Science Professor James Shoch said Stein has a good chance of making an impact in today’s election because the race has tightened so much over the past several weeks. The gubernatorial election may be determined by how much Stein and Libertarian Carla Howell pull from their respective sides of the political spectrum, he said.
‘In a close race, unless Howell pulls votes away from Republicans, [Stein] could well throw the race to Romney,’ Shoch said. ‘As much as I may agree with her positions and think she handled herself really well in the debates, I think her candidacy is a big mistake.’
Stein has suggested voters are straying to her campaign from both of the Republican and Democratic parties, a contention Shoch said is intended to allay criticism of her role as a spoiler in the race. Polling data will show that she pulls overwhelmingly from the Democratic Party, a reality Shoch said the Green Party ‘has got to grapple with.’
In the end, O’Brien campaign officials hold that progressive voters will stay with the Democratic Party on Election Day.
‘I think, in the end, voters who care about a progressive agenda know they have one choice in these election that’s Shannon,’ said O’Brien campaign spokesman Corey Welford. ‘She has worked for the 10 months in this race to promote her positive message and people will understand that the choice is ultimately between Shannon and Mitt Romney.’
Stein remains confident that she will pull out an upset in Tuesday’s election, despite a 33-point deficit in the most optimistic polls.
‘[Poll numbers] are likely to be an understatement because we’re on the rise and because of word on the street,’ Stein said. ‘People are ready to stand up for what they believe. They’re tired of the big money status quo and they’re ready to stand up and vote their values.’
Student voters will likely not have much impact in either direction today, based on the interest levels of Boston University students in the George Sherman Union yesterday evening. Of the few who said they will vote, most said they would vote on party lines.
College of Communication sophomore Brad Jones said he would vote for O’Brien because he is ‘just passionate about Jane Swift not being governor,’ and Lily Sweikert, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she plans to vote for O’Brien mostly just to keep Romney out of office.
‘The most important thing is not to have Mitt Romney,’ she said. ‘The most important thing for me is that someone in there right now is going to cater more toward what I want.’
School of Management freshman Alex Zeidman, wearing a ‘Mitt Romney-Kerry Healy’ sticker on the breast of his jacket, said Romney is the candidate best prepared to clean up Beacon Hill.
Polling places on the BU campus are located at 111 Cummington St., room 144, and in Myles Standish Hall. Allston residents can vote at the Jackson Mann School, at 500 Cambridge St. Polls will be open between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.
