Green U.S. Senate Candidate Looks For Win; Others Foresee Minimal Impact

In 2004, Green Party candidate Bob Kinsey turned some heads in the CD-4 race by winning 4 percent of the vote and a prominent newspaper endorsement.

Four years later, he's hoping - in the face of popular consensus - to make an even bigger splash in this year's closely matched U.S. Senate race.

"I can win, it's possible," Kinsey said. "It might not have been possible before, but people are disillusioned."

Kinsey, a 70-year-old former minister and teacher, says he's jumping in the Senate race to offer a voice to those who favor impeaching President Bush and immediately ending all funding for the Iraq War - issues neither Bob Schaffer nor Mark Udall have picked up on.

"There's no other way for citizens to have a voice in those critical issues," Kinsey said.

Although Udall, the leading Democratic candidate in the Senate race, voted against the Iraq War authorization as a U.S. Representative in 2003, Kinsey criticized him for voting in favor of subsequent supplemental appropriations bills to finance the war and not being a vocal enough critic of the conflict.

As an incentive, Kinsey said he called Udall's congressional office in October 2007 and said that unless Udall voted "no" on the next supplemental war funding bill, he would enter the Senate race on the Green ticket.

Kinsey said he never heard back, and Udall voted for the supplemental; now, he is looking to raise eyebrows in the race, much as he did in the 2004 election against U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.).

In that race, Kinsey won 4.1 percent of the vote, and was endorsed by the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

A Rasmussen Reports poll released last week showed Schaffer leading Udall by a single percentage point.

But several followers of the Senate race predicted that the race between Udall and Schaffer would have to end up that razor-thin or more for Kinsey to make an impact.

 "I would think that it would have to be quite close," said John Straayer, a political science professor at Colorado State University. "I don't know in a race like this, given the credentials Udall's got, if (Kinsey) could make 4 percent again."

Another source close to the Senate race noted that third parties in Colorado have historically tended to poll less than 3 percent in statewide races.

 "Overall, I don't expect (the Greens) to be a major factor, any more than they've been a major factor in the past," the source said. "I think they'll have a tougher time than when (Kinsey) ran for the House."

Kinsey's campaign strategy relies on registering Coloradans as Green Party members, which in turn relies heavily on his Web site. Supporters can also post a statement of support on the site, which bills Kinsey as "the next senator from Colorado."

"I want the endorsement numbers (on the Web site) to grow to a thousand," Kinsey said. "I want it to grow to the point that it takes you an hour to scroll through them."

Asked how he planned to reach voters who don't surf the Internet, Kinsey recommended supporters print fliers from his site and distribute them by hand.

"I'm not trying to raise a billion dollars, a million dollars," he added, saying that TV ads detracted from a healthy political discussion.

"You can't rationally discuss something in 30 seconds," he said.

A native of Staten Island, New York, Kinsey attended Dartmouth and the Chicago Theological Seminary before moving to Colorado in 1967 to become a minister.

After serving at three churches, Kinsey taught middle school and high school in Golden for 24 years.

He's been single since 2002, when his third wife died; he has three children by his first two wives, and helped to raise his third wife's four children.

He currently lives in Denver.

Asked for a comment about Kinsey's candidacy, Udall spokesperson Taylor West said in a statement that "We welcome Bob Kinsey to the race."

"We have great respect for the Democratic process and we believe that the people of Colorado will choose Mark Udall because he will bring the kind of independent thinking and collaborative problem solving that can make a real difference for Colorado families in the U.S. Senate," West said.