February 11, 2009 2:38 PM
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Green Party Picks McKinney As Nominee
(CBS/AP)
Green Party delegates have selected former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia as the party's presidential nominee.
Ruth Weill, the party's national convention coordinator, said the delegates selected McKinney as they wrapped up their national convention here on Saturday.
McKinney tapped Rosa Clemente, a hip-hop artist, journalist and activist, as her running mate.
McKinney, 53, entered politics by following her father, an Atlanta policeman who later served in the Georgia State House. She won her first seat in 1988, and later ran for and won a House race in 1992, becoming the first African American woman to represent Georgia in Congress.
She was reelected several times but suffered a primary defeat in 2002, before winning her final term in the House in 2004.
She was a vocal opponent of the Iraq war, has called for new investigations into the September 11, 2001 attacks, sought justice for victims of Hurricane Katrina, and introduced articles of impeachment against President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
In 2006 McKinney apologized on the floor of the House for an incident in which she got into a scuffle with a Capitol Police Officer after passing through security without an identifying lapel pin.
Clamente, 36, born in the Bronx and of Puerto Rican descent, was raised in one of the nation's poorest communities, and became an activist and journalist angered by the Bush administration's response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"I choose to do this, not for me, but for my generation, my community and my daughter," she said of the nomination. "I don't see the Green Party as an alternative; I see it as an imperative."
On Saturday she described the campaign as an opportunity for the Hip-Hop generation: "We must remember that youth have always taken risks. From the Soweto uprisings in South Africa, to African-American and Mexicano children in the '50s and '60s who walked out of schools, to the 17-, 18- and 19-year old men and women who joined the ranks of the Student Non-Violent Coordination Committee, the Black Panther party, the American Indian movement, the Black Liberation Movement, the Young Lords Party - young people have always been the catalyst of change."
A Green Party official, meanwhile, said he misspoke when he told the Chicago Tribune for a story Friday that the Greens had borrowed money from party members to help pay for the Chicago convention. Scott McLarty, the Green Party's spokesman, said the loan had been authorized by top party officials, but no borrowing had taken place.
Ruth Weill, the party's national convention coordinator, said the delegates selected McKinney as they wrapped up their national convention here on Saturday.
McKinney tapped Rosa Clemente, a hip-hop artist, journalist and activist, as her running mate.
McKinney, 53, entered politics by following her father, an Atlanta policeman who later served in the Georgia State House. She won her first seat in 1988, and later ran for and won a House race in 1992, becoming the first African American woman to represent Georgia in Congress.
She was reelected several times but suffered a primary defeat in 2002, before winning her final term in the House in 2004.
She was a vocal opponent of the Iraq war, has called for new investigations into the September 11, 2001 attacks, sought justice for victims of Hurricane Katrina, and introduced articles of impeachment against President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
In 2006 McKinney apologized on the floor of the House for an incident in which she got into a scuffle with a Capitol Police Officer after passing through security without an identifying lapel pin.
Clamente, 36, born in the Bronx and of Puerto Rican descent, was raised in one of the nation's poorest communities, and became an activist and journalist angered by the Bush administration's response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"I choose to do this, not for me, but for my generation, my community and my daughter," she said of the nomination. "I don't see the Green Party as an alternative; I see it as an imperative."
On Saturday she described the campaign as an opportunity for the Hip-Hop generation: "We must remember that youth have always taken risks. From the Soweto uprisings in South Africa, to African-American and Mexicano children in the '50s and '60s who walked out of schools, to the 17-, 18- and 19-year old men and women who joined the ranks of the Student Non-Violent Coordination Committee, the Black Panther party, the American Indian movement, the Black Liberation Movement, the Young Lords Party - young people have always been the catalyst of change."
A Green Party official, meanwhile, said he misspoke when he told the Chicago Tribune for a story Friday that the Greens had borrowed money from party members to help pay for the Chicago convention. Scott McLarty, the Green Party's spokesman, said the loan had been authorized by top party officials, but no borrowing had taken place.
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