Outreach to activist groups and environmental causes. The Green party seems to do NOTHING. They don't have activities, they don't hold meetings, they don't do squat, that I can see. What resources do the greens even have, and what are they using them on at present, that is a better question in my opinion.

Howabout rallying some people up to get something done. The republicans and democrats are handing out voters left and right. Get out there and recruit members who are sick of both parties.

A Green presidential campaign can achieve several objectives:

1) It can give voters an opportunity to vote for someone who truly represents their views on important matters (e.g., being anti-war, unlike the D & R options in '04 & maybe again in '08).

2) Because the presidential contest is so closely watched & widely discussed, having a prominent candidate who can articulate Green positions brings a lot of attention to the Green platform.

2b) This national attention to Green politics has local coattails. During the 2000 Nader campaign, interest & membership in my Green local (Seattle) increased greatly. It also helped the local Green campaign of Joe Szwaja running against liberal Democrat Jim McDermott for US Congress. McDermott had always been challenged from the right (which tended to pull him rightward), but had never been challenged from the left before. When Szwaja got close to 20% of the vote, McDermott realized he needed to pay more attention to his progressive base. The prominence of Nader's campaign undoubtedly played a role in Szwaja's success.

3) A presidential campaign can make a big difference in Green Party ballot access in many states.

4) A federal campaign lets Greens talk about national issues that are very important right now, e.g., war, torture, privacy rights, global warming, etc. It's essential to put resources in local campaigns, but it means just talking about things like zoning ordinances, maintenance of infrastructure, etc. Important, yes, but Greens need addressing national issues to be relevant.

A lot of this depends on the quality & prominence of the candidate. But I think if the Greens didn't offer American voters an opportunity to vote for a presidential candidate more progressive than Hillary Clinton in 2008, it would be a crying shame.

Good question.

Is there a national Green organization that discusses these types of issues with Green members around the nation, or does someone just decide they want to run for President?

Also, Green party candidates tend to do well in countries that are democracies, and the US is not (it is not in the Constitution, the People have no direct role in government aside from, supposedly, electing new folks if we don't like what we have). Does the Green Party actually have a chance of any meaningful participation in government without some democratic reforms. Obviously, hoping for democratic government like in Europe (where Greens are more active) is probably unrealistic, but some reforms are possible. Nader always talks about abolishing the "winner take all" system. That is probably a good first step. Second step a Constitutional amendment that say, "Corporations are not human beings."