Lexington's Stein Shooting for Green Party's Presidential Nom

Lexington resident Jill Stein officially threw her hat into the race to become the Green Party’s 2012 presidential nominee today.

Announcing her candidacy today, Oct. 24, Stein aligned herself with “the 99 percent” and cast President Obama as no different than his Republican challengers when it comes to dealing with Wall Street, according to the Boston Globe.

“People are realizing that ‘We the People’ have to take charge, because the political parties that are serving the top 1 percent are not going to solve the problems the rest of us are facing,” Stein said in her remarks. “And we need people in Washington who refuse to be bought by lobbyist money and for whom change is not just a slogan.”

(Full text of Stein’s announcement remarks available on her website.)

The “five key pieces” of Stein’s Green New Deal include ending unemployment; providing free healthcare and education; establishing a moratorium on home foreclosures and bringing troops, including private security contractors, back from Iraq and Afghanistan. People ask me why I keep fighting political battles in a rigged system.

If Stein's name looks familiar to Lexington voters, it's for good reason. She's been elected twice as a Town Meeting member. And twice she's run as a Green-Rainbow Party candidate -- for State Representative in 2004 and for Secretary of State in 2006. Stein has also run for Governor twice, including the most recent race and in 2002, when she faced Mitt Romney, who is seeking the Republican nomination in 2012.

“The answer is simple. I keep fighting because when it comes to our children, mothers don’t give up,” Stein said in her remarks. “Young people today haven’t given up – and they’re the ones really carrying the burden of this rigged system. If they’re not giving up, we shouldn’t either. 

Stein will seek the Presidential nomination of the Green Party and expects to qualify for the ballot in at least 40 states, according to her website, which said she also expects to qualify for Presidential primary matching funds.

The Globe reported today that the Green Party will formally nominate its candidate next summer and, while Kent P. Mesplay of California has also declared candidacy, Stein said “his campaign is not particularly active at this time.”