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Handlers for Barack Obama have leaked to the press that the Clintons might be too radioactive for Hillary to be included as the vice presidential candidate in the Obama campaign and that could be bad news for a lot of women voters looking for assurance that the highest office in the land is not reserved for men only.

So, for the disenfranchised Hillary Clinton voters, there is another option. The Green Party has chosen former Georgia  Representative Cynthia McKinney as its nominee for the White House. 

Though still too fringe to be a real threat to the White House, the Green party has shown in recent years the ability to draw voters. In the last gubernatorial election in Illinois, Rich Whitney won enough votes to get the third party officially recognized in Illinois and a semi-permanent place on the ballot.

Unfortunately, Green Party voters are often angry former Democrats like McKinney herself and her candidacy may detract voters who would otherwise vote for Barack.

Equally unfortuante is that McKinney’s negatives will detract from the accomplishment of having a black woman as a presidential candidate, even in a fringe party. Witht he green Party gaining momentum, her candidacy could have been another huge step forward showing the winning of the race war in America.

But she suffers from the same negative image as Carol Mosley Braun, the first African-American woman in the United States senate.  McKinney, while in the U.S. House of Representatives, got in a scuffle with Capitol police and had to apologize on the House floor.

Later, during an interview with CBS, she made some negative comments about one of her staff members and then, after being caught on tape saying such things, tried to change the rules of the interview and say that the comment was “off the record”. After the September 11 attacks, when Saudi officials tried unsuccessfully to donate to the 9/11 relief fund, she wrote a letter to the donor suggesting other charities that would be happy to accept the money.

In Rep. McKinney’s defense, she has never been charged with anything illegal, but she is not exactly the shining example of morality that most people expect in a presidential candidate. Worse yet for those of who support Obama, her candidacy will do nothing to John McCain and will steal all its votes from Obama. Those likely to vote for McCain would never consider a third party candidate.

The sad reality is that McKinney’s candidacy could mean that we end up with the same generic old white guy as the next president. The Obama team must take this into consideration and act appropriately when choosing a vice president.

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