Physician beats actress for US presidential nomination

JTA — Jill Stein, a Massachusetts physician, beat back a challenge by actress Roseanne Barr for the presidential nomination of the Green Party.

Stein garnered 193 1/2 votes to Barr’s 72, according to the Baltimore Sun, at the party convention Saturday in Baltimore. Stein is the 11-year-old party’s first presidential candidate; Barr also is Jewish.

One delegate split her vote for Stein with a minor candidate. Barr did not attend the convention.

Stein’s running mate is Cheri Honkala, an anti-poverty advocate who had been a homeless mother.

“We are the 99 percent, and this is the year we take our country back,” Stein said following her nomination, according to the Sun.

Stein, 62, an internist from Lexington, Mass., ran against presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for governor of the state a decade ago. She lost another gubernatorial bid in 2010.

The Green Party of the United States is “a federation of state Green Parties,” according to the party’s website. “Committed to environmentalism, non-violence, social justice and grassroots organizing, Greens are renewing democracy without the support of corporate donors.”

Stein said the Green Party has qualified for federal matching funds for the first time in its history.