Gotta love Jill Stein and Cornel West. Like Ross Perot and Ralph Nader, they know exactly what they’re doing. Where in the case of West, there may be some principle resident in his presidential run, Stein’s sole purpose appears to be to chip away at Biden’s base, little piece by little piece. While the damage she did to Hillary Clinton in 2016 may have been negligible, what she’s doing to the Biden campaign is going to have an even bigger impact. Even former President Donald Trump knows this, and said as much at his Philadelphia rally.
Which is why the Biden campaign is working very hard to keep Stein off the ballot, especially in battleground states. He is currently suing Stein to take her off the ballot in Nevada. But Stein’s got moxie and is pushing back, working to qualify for the Pennsylvania ballot.
Jill Stein failed to qualify for the first presidential debate this week in Atlanta but the presumptive Green Party presidential nominee says she has collected enough signatures to appear on the ballot in another battleground state: Pennsylvania.
With more than a month to go before the deadline to submit the ballot access petition, the Stein campaign plans to keep collecting signatures in President Biden’s native home of Pennsylvania in preparation for the sort of “frivolous” lawsuits the Green Party says it suffered in states such as Nevada where Democrats have challenged the validity of the signatures collected.
“We look forward to being on the PA ballot, following whatever shenanigans the Democrats pull to block us,” Stein spokesperson Jason Call said. “They are doing this to bleed our resources and time, not to keep us off the ballot.”
While they are pushing hard privately, publicly the DNC and their allies are aiming their fire at Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who also did not make the debate stage. Their reasons? According to one political consultant, they don’t want to upset the apple cart with their looney progressive base lest they lose more votes.
Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said it is harder for Democrats to attack Ms. Stein and Mr. West because they appeal to a slice of progressive voters that may account for a small part of the electorate, but could make or break Mr. Biden hypercompetitive battleground states.
“Right now, the Stein numbers are mostly coming off Biden, as are the Cornel West ones,” Mr. Miringoff said. “It is potentially a really big deal.”
Stein makes a cogent point, though: No candidate should assume they have a right to your vote; they should be out working to earn your vote. Sadly, her message is ghettoized to low-rated MSNBC and Cenk Uygur’s “The Young Turks.”
In the meantime, candidates and elected officials are circling the wagons, trying to save Biden from himself.
He’s not wrong. As Effie Trinket said, “Happy Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor.”
