OMAHA -- Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein sought to embrace Bernie Sanders supporters at a Nebraska campaign stop Wednesday, urging them to side with her over "lesser-evil Democrats†in November.
“We are Bernie Sanders on steroids,†she told a conference room crowd of about 250 people at Metro Community College's Fort Omaha Campus.
In an 80-minute appearance, the second-time presidential candidate also courted environmentalists and political newcomers who opposed the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline before it was rejected last year.
“This is where you did so much to stop the Keystone pipeline,†Stein told the crowd.
Her event came the same day a judge issued a warrant for her arrest in North Dakota, where she spray-painted a piece of construction equipment Tuesday during a protest against the Dakota Access pipeline. Stein and her running mate, Ajamu Baraka, are both charged with misdemeanor trespassing and criminal mischief.
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The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is trying to stop construction of a section of the $3.8 billion, four-state pipeline, which tribal leaders say would violate sacred and culturally sensitive grounds and possibly pollute water.
"This is the new Keystone pipeline," Stein said Wednesday.
The Omaha event also came as major-party presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump participated in a nationally televised NBC News forum on military issues.
Scoring national airtime has been a focus for Stein's campaign as well as that of Libertarian Gary Johnson, who will also appear on Nebraskans' ballots in the Nov. 8 general election.
Although at least 43 states will include Stein on their ballots, her poll numbers have hovered in the single digits, far below the 15 percent threshold needed to participate in the upcoming debates.
"We need to be in the debates," Stein said.
Poll numbers don't tell the complete story because they only survey likely voters, she said. Her campaign, meanwhile, relies on a “whole new movement of unlikely voters,†many of them mobilized by Sanders' bid for the Democratic nomination.
About half the crowd at Wednesday's event, maybe more, raised their hands when asked if they supported Sanders in Nebraska's Democratic caucus in March. Sanders won here but ultimately lost the nomination to Clinton at the party's national convention in July.
Four Sanders delegates who participated in the national convention appeared at Stein's event: Adrian Sanchez of Lincoln and Omahans Linda Bowman, Amy Buchanan and Edgar DeLeon.
Buchanan and DeLeon said they plan to support Stein over Clinton in November. Sanchez and Bowman didn't state a preference.
Stein's platform includes switching entirely to wind, water and solar power by 2030 as part of a "Green New Deal," creating a "welcoming" path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants looking to remain in the United States, and "ending the crisis of police violence to ensure that all black lives matter."
Many have called Stein's environmental and economic positions unrealistic. A blistering editorial last month in The Washington Post called her vision a "fairy tale."
Still, Stein said Wednesday, voters are looking for other options because they don't trust "these two candidates that have been forced down our throats.â€
"We are saying it is time for a new way forward.â€