Green Party candidate David Cobb blasts Kerry, says he?s thwarting recount
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Green Party?s Cobb lashes out at Kerry camp over recount

By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor   17 December 2004

In an exclusive interview with RAW STORY Friday, the Green Party?s presidential candidate David Cobb lashed out at Sen. John Kerry, saying he Democratic nominee has tried to ?undermine,? ?delegitimize? and ?minimize? the Ohio recount.

Cobb, who ran an unsuccessful bid for president, is at the vanguard of the Ohio recount. The Green and Libertarian Parties raised tens of thousands of dollars to pay for the recount and put county observers on the ground.

Meanwhile, Cobb observed, Kerry has not contributed ?a single dime.?

?John Kerry is trying to minimize and undermine and delegitmize the recount,? Cobb asserted.

The Green called attention to the $51 million war chest Sen. Kerry was left with after the election. Kerry has come under fire for not contributing the money to other 2004 Democratic congressional candidates.

?Sadly, John Kerry seems to be trapped under the pile of 51 million dollars that is preventing him from getting up and standing up,? Cobb told RAW STORY.

That?s ?the highest amount of money a presidential candidate has ever been left with so far? after an election, he added.

Kerry, given the opportunity to exercise his right for a recount as a candidate that received a large percentage of the vote, declined to do so. As such, the Green Party and others raised $150,000 to pay Ohio to conduct the count.

Kerry-Edwards did join Cobb?s lawsuit suing to prevent the electors from voting before the recount was completed, which failed in court. They also issued a letter to Ohio Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell demanding an investigation.

Cobb says the letters are paper tigers.

?They?ve issued
  
periodic letters which have no meaning under law,? Cobb remarked.

Asked whether he had a theory on why Kerry conceded so quickly, he replied, ?John Kerry definitely wanted to beat Bush, but as a member of a ruling elite, the one thing that John Kerry values over everything else is continued membership in the ruling elite.?

?I think it?s shameful,? he added.

Cobb sees the Greens? focus on Ohio as a continuation of his race for president.

?The Green Party is not going away,? he concluded. ?The Green Party is getting stronger, larger and more organized.?

A Kerry spokesperson could not be reached for comment.