Have you ever heard of the name Cynthia McKinney? I’m embarrassed to admit that until last week, I hadn’t.

When my early ballot to vote for the general election arrived in my mailbox, I immediately ripped it open and looked at the Presidential section expecting to find Barack Obama and John McCain.  But, to my surprise, I found three more names: Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney, and Ralph Nadar.
Cynthia, that’s a woman’s name! Not only that, but she belongs to the Green Party. That is right up my alley and I didn’t know a thing about it. How can that be?

Do you know what my favorite, "The Way I See It" saying from the back of a Starbuck's cup is? #287 and it says, "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women."  Madeleine K. Albright the former Secretary of State and Ambassador to the U.N. said it and I agree. I've always believed in woman power, but then I had three boys.
With this Presidential Election, we have heard a lot about discrimination… specifically race vs. gender. But, what about Third Party discrimination? Why is it that only the Democrats and the Republicans get to debate? Why has the focus only been on those two parties?
A couple of days ago, there was an article in The Arizona Republic called, “Nader, Barr a factor in race: Third-party candidates a wild card, experts say,” written by Anne Ryman. First of all, there is no mention of Cynthia McKinney, only Barr and Nader, like the title reflects. But, the article is about third-party candidates and Cynthia McKinney is one.  Anne Ryman writes that the media also gives them  (third party candidates) less attention because they often don’t have a chance of winning.

Hmm… ya think? I repeat… How can a lady being running for President and I don’t even know about it? How can that be? And did you know that her running mate is a woman too?

Even though, I’m a Republican, I wanted to vote for Hillary Clinton just because she is a woman. Then, came Sarah Palin and I was going to vote for that ticket. But, now I find out that there is Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party... a woman is running for President!

I hear that voting for a third party candidate would be a waste of my vote. But, how can voting for a woman be a waste? More importantly, what about Mother Earth? When will we vote for helping the environment?

I think its time we learn more about third party candidates and what they stand for, especially the Green Party.

What do you think of the third party candidates? Would you vote for one?