AP via Sun-Times:

It's a little easier being Green
Third party will benefit despite Election Day loss

November 13, 2006
BY JIM SUHR
CARBONDALE -- For the Green Party's Rich Whitney, little about last Tuesday's election defeat has him feeling too blue.

Sure, the Carbondale civil rights and labor attorney lost his quest to unseat Democratic Gov. Blagojevich, who rolled to another four-year term.

But Whitney knew going in that he was a long shot, well aware his $35,000 campaign was outstaffed and outspent by the mega-million-dollar political machines behind Blagojevich and Republican hopeful Judy Baar Topinka.

Still, Whitney got a nifty consolation prize for getting just 10 percent of the vote.

The Green Party needed just 5 percent to become "established" in Illinois, meaning its candidates now qualify for easier ballot access in 2008 and are eligible for primaries -- just like Republicans and Democrats.

The distinction of "established" -- which the Greens can keep as long as the party's highest candidate on the ticket receives at least 5 percent of the vote in the future -- applies to partisan races up and down the ballot, from statewide to local levels.

Third-party candidates have had brief successes before in Illinois, although their parties never enjoyed a sustained push -- something Whitney seems bent on changing.

Tuesday's showing, he said, gives the Greens added legitimacy and might prove there's a need for an alternative to what he calls "that two-party iron curtain."

A former chief of the state's elections board, however, isn't convinced most of Whitney's votes came from folks yearning for a viable third party. While some voters might have liked the Greens' pro-environment/clean government platform, "from the people I've talked to on both sides, it seems to be that this [showing for the Greens] was an outlet for voter unhappiness," Ron Michaelson said.

AP