AUGUSTA — Pat LaMarche, the Green Party's newly nominated candidate for vice president, said Tuesday that her top priority is not winning the White House for her party, but ensuring that President Bush is defeated. She is, in fact, so determined to see Bush lose that she would not commit to voting for herself and her running mate, Texas lawyer David Cobb.

Green Party vice presidential candidate Pat LaMarche speaks at a news conference Tuesday, June 29, 2004, in Augusta, Maine. LaMarche, a single mother and radio personality from Yarmouth, Maine, will be David Cobb's running mate. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

LaMarche, who won 7 percent of the vote when she was the Green Independent candidate for governor of Maine in 1998, said she'll vote for whoever has the best chance of beating Bush.

But "if Bush has got 11 percent of the vote in Maine come November 2, I can vote for whoever I want," she said in an interview with the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.

And if the state is, as it is now, a toss-up between Bush and presumptive Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry?

She could well vote for the Democrat.

"I love my country," she said. "Maybe we should ask them that, because if (Vice President) Dick Cheney loved his country, he wouldn't be voting for himself."

A spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign said the vice president is certain to vote for his and Bush's re-election.

Larry Sabato, a political scientist who directs the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said, "It's a rare thing, even for a splinter party, to have a nominee for vice president indicate she is not sure for whom she is going to vote."

LaMarche was nominated last weekend at the party's convention in Milwaukee.

She returned Monday night to Maine, and on Tuesday held her first press conference as her party's nominee in the State House Hall of Flags.

"There are huge issues," she said, listing the war, the environment, health care, the economy and jobs.

Health care was one of her central issues when she ran for governor, and LaMarche acknowledged Tuesday that she does not have health insurance.

But most important of all, she said, is "making sure that George Bush is no longer president of the United States."

LaMarche initially did not think the party should field a candidate for president at all. Her feeling was that many people believe the party's candidate in 2000, Ralph Nader, drew votes away from the Democrat, Al Gore, ultimately leading to Bush's win.

Now LaMarche rejects what she calls an incorrect perception that Nader cost Gore the presidency. She said 6 million Democrats voted for Bush, and there were many irregularities in the 2000 vote.

"There are a million things that are rotten about that last election cycle," she said.

When her party chose to run a candidate this year, she felt compelled to support the decision.

"What we need right now is to make sure that the Green Party grows," she said.

LaMarche plans to use the Maine party's expertise in getting candidates on the ballot to help other state parties across the country do the same.

Although LaMarche does not believe she and Cobb will win the White House, they plan to campaign hard, she said. The two have decided against seriously competing in states that are undecided because of their belief that Bush needs to be defeated.

She said she expects to travel twice a week, but that it's important that she continue to spend time at home with her 18-year-old daughter, Becky, and 17-year-old son, John.

LaMarche is 43 years old and a single mother who lives in Yarmouth. She said she asked her children for permission before agreeing to run for vice president.

The two appeared with their mother at her press conference Tuesday, and had lunch in the State House cafeteria afterward.

While LaMarche, known professionally as radio personality Genny Judge on WEBB (FM 98.5), a country music station, is excited about the campaign, she has new concerns about her personal finances.

She said she'll get no stipend for being a candidate, and that her candidacy has complicated her employment situation.

She said she was "disinvited" from appearing on her usual morning program, but didn't know if the arrangement is permanent.

© 2004 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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