Greens hope to keep growing roots

The Democrat had high disapproval ratings; the Republican was hamstrung by a predecessor's corruption indictment.

The beneficiary in the 2006 race for Illinois governor was Green Party candidate Rich Whitney, who grabbed 10 percent of the popular vote. He made the Greens the first new "established" Illinois political party in decades.

For now, the Greens must only collect as many petition signatures as Republicans and Democrats to earn spots on November ballots. (That figure varies by the number of voters in the previous general election.)

Political establishment status is granted in Illinois whenever a political party earns at least 5 percent of the popular vote in a general election. The Green Party will be established until at least 2010, but staying on the ballot may not be easy.

Still, the party held the first-ever Illinois Green Party primary on Tuesday in precincts throughout the state.

"The election authorities are not exactly advertising that there is a Green ballot," said state party spokesman Patrick Kelly, who criticized mainstream media for skirting Green Party coverage. The state's three major newspapers did not endorse a Green Party candidate for president, even though four contenders appeared on Tuesday's ballot.

"It's gotten a little better in terms of getting mentioned, but we're still not getting a lot of focus," Kelly said.

Kelly would not disclose the party's membership numbers in Illinois, but said it has doubled in size since 2006.

Most of the 32 Green candidates ran uncontested for seats in the U.S. Congress and Illinois House, county offices throughout the state and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

Regardless, broader exposure at the polls likely won't be enough for Greens to gain a foot in the state's historically entrenched two-party system, said political science professor John Allen Williams of Loyola University Chicago.

"You look through the whole of American history and it's always been two party," Williams said, citing both structural and behavior limitations in Illinois elections. "We're hard-wired to vote for one or the other."

A third party's success is often its downfall as its broad appeal encourages established parties to adopt some of their distinctive platforms. Staple issues for the Greens like environmental sustainability have become focal points in both Democratic and Republican campaigns recently.

"Any issue that is popular enough to arouse popular interest is popular enough to be co-opted by another party," Williams said. "In general, I wouldn't hope for much with any third party."

Since Adlai Stevenson III's Solidarity Party lost its bid for governor in 1986, there has not been a three-party race in Illinois. Stevenson III left the Democratic Party to distance himself from political extremists aligned with Lyndon LaRouche, who surprised the party and won the Democratic nominations for lieutenant governor and secretary of state.

Though they have failed to make inroads in American politics, third parties have become catalysts for social change, said Alan Gitelson, also a Loyola political science professor. He said third parties like Eugene Deb's Socialist Party were instrumental in promoting workers' rights and Social Security benefits in the early 20th century.

According to Gitelson, more than 900 third parties have tried to enter U.S. politics, each lasting anywhere from six months to decades. "In Illinois, the chances of getting elected are slim," Gitelson said.