MILWAUKEE – The Green Party’s turn to Maine radio personality Pat LaMarche as nominee for vice president will give national attention to a woman whose 1998 run for governor drew 7 percent of Mainers’ votes.

Saturday’s decision during the Green Party’s national convention in Milwaukee was overshadowed by the decision against endorsing Ralph Nader’s efforts to secure the party’s formal endorsement.

Endorsement would have given Nader access to the ballot in key states such as Wisconsin and California.

Instead, Greens nominated Texas lawyer David Cobb as their presidential candidate.

Nader, the party’s candidate in 1996 and 2000, had told Green officials months ago he would not accept the party’s nomination for president, preferring to build a coalition of third-party groups and independents rather than running under one banner.

Still, he openly courted their formal endorsement as a means to get on the ballot in Washington, D.C., and the 22 states where the party has a ballot line.

But 408 delegates voted for Cobb on the second ballot to give him the nomination, forcing Nader to find other means to get on the ballot. LaMarche then became the party’s nominee for vice president.

In 1998, LaMarche ran unsuccessfully for governor of Maine in a race including Democrat Tom Connally, Republican Jim Longley Jr. and independents Bill Clarke and Angus King.

King, the incumbent, won re-election with 59 percent of the vote.

There are about 16,000 registered Green voters in Maine, and this year the Maine Green Independent Party is offering 21 candidates for the state House of Representatives and two candidates for state Senate seats. Rep. John Eder of Portland is the only Green state legislator in the country.

Nader’s supporters had cast the endorsement as the only real option for Greens if they hoped to maintain their national profile and play a role in the presidential race.

But Cobb has touted himself as a homegrown Green who would work to build the party from the ground up.

Cobb went out of his way to praise Nader in accepting the nomination, but said later the vote was a sign the Green Party “has gotten out from under the shadow of a man who has probably cast a larger shadow than any other living American.”

Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese said the consumer activist knew he faced an uphill battle for the party’s endorsement by electing in December not to participate in the primary process and only sending representatives to the party convention this week.

He said Nader would now turn his attention to his drive to get on the ballot and warned that Greens wouldn’t know until Election Day whether their decision to back someone else will pay off.

Nader already has the backing of the Reform Party, which has ballot access in seven states, but he has yet to be placed on any state ballots.

“One week of coming to a convention does not equal six months of going state to state,” said Zeese, a Green delegate.

“We’ll know in four months who was right.”

Many Democrats still blame Nader for President Bush’s victory four years ago and fear he could still siphon off enough votes to hand the Republican a second term.

Some Greens have struggled with the conflict over voting for their party’s candidate or giving their vote to Democrat John Kerry, especially in the swing states that will likely tip their election.

Cobb acknowledges that conflict in his campaign strategy. He plans to run in all 50 states in an effort to build the party. But he said he will tell progressives in the 10 to 12 swing states to “vote their conscience” – even if it means backing Kerry.

Some Greens, especially Nader backers, view the strategy as a de facto backing of Kerry’s candidacy. But Cobb promised to portray the Democrat as a part of the corporate and militaristic machine Greens abhor, albeit one step better than Bush.

A Kerry spokesman declined to comment.

“This is not a strategy victory for the Kerry campaign,” Cobb said.

The party’s endorsement would not have guaranteed Nader the Green Party’s ballot lines. Rather, it would have given state chapter officials the option of presenting Nader as the candidate of their choice for president to state election officials. Still, that prospect was much less daunting than other means for getting on the ballot.

In California alone, Nader would have to gather more than 150,000 signatures to get on the ballot as an independent.

It also remains to be seen what effect Saturday’s vote will have on the party. Zeese said more than 175 delegates met immediately after the nomination Saturday to pledge their support to work for Nader, and Nader backers will still likely have the opportunity to vote for him as an independent.

The delegate vote underscored the deep divide among party members over who serves their cause best – Cobb, a little-known party activist but a member of their party, or Nader, a prominent national figure with no formal party ties.

Nader even tapped longtime Green activist Peter Camejo as his running mate this week, a step his supporters hoped would bolster his chances of winning the party’s endorsement.