The Washington Post
Matthew Mosk and John Wagner
September 17, 2006

It is unclear when Maryland's leading Senate candidates might face off in a debate. But something that's become a prerequisite these days -- a debate over debates -- got underway last week.

By Joseph Patrick Bulko
September 2006

Excerpt:

The plight of the Green politician, a David versus Goliath struggle, is perhaps best characterized by the U.S. Senate campaign of Kevin Zeese, Green candidate for U.S. Senate, who also received the nominations of both the Libertarian and Populist parties.

At 51 years of age and a 1980 graduate of the George Washington Law School, Zeese's professional life involves advocacy work for nonprofits. He embraced the Green Party back in 1996, when he became frustrated with the Democratic Party, which seemed intent on acting like Republicans.

Zeese has participated in three prior elections working on behalf of the Green Party: the 2002 Maryland House of Delegates race; the California gubernatorial circus eventually won by Arnold Schwarzenegger; and as press secretary and chief policy writer for Ralph Nader's 2004 presidential bid.

"While I am most known as a democracy and anti-war candidate because I co-founded TrueVoteMD.org, which advocates for a paper ballot with electronic voting, and lead a national anti-war group, DemocracyRising.US, and am a co-founder of VotersForPeace.org, I am also putting forward ideas that none of the leading Democrat or Republican candidates are discussing," he said.

Included is a tax plan where the first $100,000 in income is federal income tax free, and the $380 billion cost to the U.S. Treasury is made up by a tiny micro tax of one-tenth of 1% on the purchase of stocks, bonds, currency and derivatives.

"This raises $1.3 trillion which could be used to buy our country back from China, pay off our deficit and fund a transition to a 21st century economy where we are no longer dependent on fossil fuels, invest in U.S. infrastructure and provide free post-high school education to compete in the world economy," he explained.

By Cameron W. Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 17, 2006; A04

Excerpt: Kevin Zeese, an independent candidate for Maryland's open U.S. Senate seat and a longtime critic of electronic systems that do not provide a "paper trail," acknowledged that many problems in Maryland were caused by human error. Even so, he said, "the real problem [with electronic machines] continues. We can't tell whether the result really reflects the will of the people. There's no way to audit an electronic count."