David Keith Cobb is an American political

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

who was the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

presidential candidate A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * t ...

for the 2004 election. Cobb later became the campaign manager for fellow Green

Jill Stein Jill Ellen Stein (born May 14, 1950) is an American physician, activist, and former political candidate. She was the Green Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 and 2016 elections and the Green-Rainbow Party's candidat ...

for her presidential run in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2004 presidential campaign

With the announcement in late December 2003 that Nader would not seek the Green Party nomination for president in 2004, Cobb became a front-runner for the nomination. On January 13, 2004, David Cobb won the first Green

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

in the nation, that of the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, beating local activist Sheila Bilyeu and several write-in candidates and gaining an early lead in the nomination scramble. Nader eventually announced an independent campaign for president and sought the endorsement of the Green Party and other minor parties; his supporters continued to push for a Nader victory in the various Green Party primary elections in states across the country. Shortly before, the Green Party presidential nominating convention, held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in June 2004, Nader selected Green Party member

Peter Camejo Peter Miguel Camejo Guanche (December 31, 1939 – September 13, 2008) was a Venezuelan American author, activist, politician and Sailing Olympian. In the 2004 United States presidential election, he was selected by independent candidate Ralp ...

as his running mate. On June 26, on the second ballot, the convention selected Cobb as the Green presidential candidate – a process rocked by controversy as Nader had won the vast majority of actual Green Party votes in nearly all state primary elections (Cobb received only 12.2 percent support). The party also nominated

Pat LaMarche Patricia Helen LaMarche (born November 26, 1960) is an American political figure and activist with the Green Party of the United States; she was the party's vice-presidential candidate in the 2004 United States presidential election, with Dav ...

as its candidate for vice-president. Cobb stated his intention to run a campaign focused on building the Green Party and pursuing a "strategic states" or "smart states" strategy which would take into account the wishes of Greens in each state, and which otherwise would focus on states that traditionally are "safely" won by the Democratic candidate, or "safely" won by the Republican candidate, with a large margin of victory. Such so-called "safe states" are also referred to in campaign literature as "neglected states" because the Democratic and Republican candidates traditionally put most of their campaign energy into more competitive "swing states." Cobb's campaign said that each state's campaign would aim to follow the wishes expressed by local Greens. While some of Cobb's supporters urged

swing state In American politics, the term swing state (also known as battleground state or purple state) refers to any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate in a statewide election, most often referring to pre ...

residents to vote for

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

in order to stop the re-election of President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

, other Cobb supporters encouraged votes for Cobb and LaMarche everywhere. The candidates themselves used the phrase "vote your conscience," campaigning both in swing states such as Wisconsin and safe states such as California. On October 8, 2004, Cobb was arrested in an act of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

, breaking a police line while protesting the

Commission on Presidential Debates The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is a nonprofit corporation established in 1987 under the joint sponsorship of the Democratic and Republican political parties in the United States. The CPD sponsors and produces debates for U.S. pre ...

for excluding third-party candidates from the nationally televised debates in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. Also arrested was

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

candidate

Michael Badnarik Michael J. Badnarik ( ; August 1, 1954 – August 11, 2022) was an American software engineer, political figure, and radio talk show host. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for President of the United States in the 2004 elections, and plac ...

. In the November 2004 presidential election, Cobb placed sixth in the popular vote total nationwide, earning over 119,859 votes (0.10 percent), but received no electoral votes. This represented a decline of over 90 percent support compared to the votes garnered by Nader.

Post-election activities

Since running for president, Cobb has become a member of the Board of Directors for the Green Institute, and of the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

's national Corporate Accountability Committee, a Fellow with the Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution, on the Steering Committee of Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County, along with being the group's campaigns director, and is a Principal with

Program on Corporations, Law, and Democracy The Program on Corporations, Law, and Democracy (POCLAD) is an activist collective of 11 members(with three leaving, making 14.), who research the history of corporations in the United States. They are some of the main circulators of the notion ...

(POCLAD). Cobb facilitated the founding convention of the

Green Party of Louisiana The Green Party of Louisiana is a state-level political party affiliated with the Green Party of the United States (GPUS). The nominee of the GPUS has been on every presidential ballot in the state since 1996. The 2014 convention of the Green Par ...

during a two-day convention which took place on August 31 and September 1, 2002, in New Orleans. Cobb co-founded

Cooperation Humboldt Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English) is the process of groups of organisms working or acting together for common, mutual, or some underlying benefit, as opposed to working in competition for selfish benefit. Many animal a ...

. Cobb was the campaign manager for Green candidate

in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Election history

References

External links

*
Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County website2004 nomination acceptance speech
2004 Green Party Convention
2008 Green Party convention speechDavid Cobb discussing third parties
Protests outside of 2004 DNC {{DEFAULTSORT:Cobb, David 1962 births 2004 United States election voting controversies 21st-century American politicians American anti–nuclear power activists American democracy activists American environmentalists California Greens Consumer rights activists Green Party of the United States presidential nominees Living people People from Galveston County, Texas People from Eureka, California Texas Greens Candidates in the 2004 United States presidential election University of Houston alumni Activists from California Activists from Texas

2004 presidential campaign

Post-election activities

Election history

See also

References

External links