Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein’s call for a recount has won her headlines and money, both of which could prove beneficial to the politician and her party going forward. Stein’s call for a recount in Wisconsin might have come as a surprise to some observers. She won just 1 percent of the vote in the state and finished a distant fourth. Democrat Hillary Clinton, who won the national popular vote, finished a close second to Republican Donald Trump in the Badger State. But it wasn’t her party asking for the recount. It was Stein, who has repeatedly shown a willingness to step into the public limelight to battle with both major parties. Stein hit the Clinton machine for piggy-backing on her recount efforts and for failing to take the threat of election hacking seriously. Seen as largely an afterthought during the presidential race, Stein is receiving heavy news coverage from the media for her efforts. And by tapping into Democratic angst over Trump’s surprise victory over Clinton, she’s building a fundraising apparatus greater than she had before.
It’s highly unlikely that the recount will lead to any change in the election results, which is one reason that many Democrats have largely shrugged it off. But Stein and her party still stand to gain.
“It’s politically smart for the Green Party to show they are an aggressive, progressive wing of the Democratic Party. The Democrats have largely ceded this progressive territory, so the Green Party can demonstrate that they are fighting for the spirit the progressive Democrats would embrace,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political scientist. “It keeps their hopes alive for a longer period than the election.”
During a Monday night interview on Fox Business Network, Stein framed herself as the voice for the “frustrated, cynical and disappointed voters” who were “disgusted by the process of this election.”
And she’s hammered Clinton, whose campaign said it would participate in the recount if Stein filed one, on social media by labeling her too secretive to want the transparency provided by a recount.
Full Article: What Stein is getting from recount | TheHill.