This is how most of the Greens ran for state and county offices in IL this year. However, their platform doesn't stress this. In races against one opponent this year they typically got about 20%, and less than 10% if against 2 opponents. When they concentrated their efforts two years ago on the Gov's race they got 10%.
A new party going after the same theme needs more than the theme. They need to spend money to get their message out. That means raising money, but that is difficult when they've excluded "special interests", many of which are fairly ordinary groups seeking to improve their clout by organizing.
Realistically, the Greens got 10% in 2006 in IL because Blagojevich was already unpopular... but so was Topinka. The Maine Greens might be more instructive due to their long-term success in gubernatorial races, but they're actually quite ideologically purified (and very much a regional party of the lower coast at times; see
the 2002 result).
Green %, Maine gubernatorial races:
1994: 6.39%
1998: 6.82%
2002: 9.28%
2006: 9.56%
