Green Party candidate stares down the odds

Tobin A. Coleman
Stamford Advocate, CT
05/29/06

Clifford Thornton Jr. doesn't mince words -- he knows his Connecticut Green Party candidacy for governor has little chance.

But Thornton, 61, hopes his campaign will spur discussion on the war, on drugs and on related issues of race and class.

"There's no one out there who is speaking to these issues," said Thornton, who was nominated last month as the Green Party candidate at a convention in New Haven. "No one is talking about the war on drugs. No one is talking about education and how it relates to the drug war. No one is talking about the failure of our infrastructure."

"I want to get these people to talk about the issues," the Glastonbury man said. "How many people are talking about the war in Iraq? How many people are talking about the war right here? How many people are talking about the race issue?"

Thornton is the first black man to run for governor from an established party in Connecticut.