Green Party Protestors Fault Post for Lack of Coverage

A group of about 15 D.C. Statehood Green Party protesters and candidates gathered outside The Washington Post building today, saying that The Post "routinely ignores or marginalizes the party's candidates."

"We're here to challenge The Post to cover D.C.'s second party in terms of national clout," said David Schwartzman, an at-large candidate for the D.C. Council. He highlighted the party's 2006 general election results, when the D.C. Statehood Green Party won more votes in the District than the Republican Party.

Former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party's candidate for president, sent a statement.

"We know that if the media covered our platform . . . they would establish us as the second political party in this nation," McKinney said in the statement, which was read by SKCM Curry, her campaign manager.

The protest was partially inspired by a May 29 online discussion with Post congressional reporter Paul Kane, in which he said, "We don't have enough resources to cover [the Green Party]."

The Post's executive editor, Leonard Downie Jr., said Kane isn't the one who makes those decisions.

"What we've been covering up until now is the nomination process of the two major parties," Downie said. Future coverage of third-party candidates, he said, "would be based on the past performance of those candidates, and how much interest we think our readers have in them."