Living in the town where the first shot of the American Revolution took place seems appropriate to Jill Stein.

Stein, 62, of Lexington, Mass., hit the political radar in her Green Party bid for president last week following a well-publicized night in jail for a sit-in at a bank.

The Harvard-educated physician has not missed a beat in her campaign since the Philadelphia incident, still touring the country and picking up more state ballot slots.

"I'm running because we are in a crisis," she said on the phone Friday from Seattle. "People are losing their jobs, decent wages, their homes by the millions, affordable health care and higher education."

Stein is on the ballot in 32 states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and expects to be on at least 45 by Nov. 6.

She and her running mate, Cheri Honkala, support an economic program they call the Green New Deal.

It calls for the nationally funded creation of 25 million jobs, establishment of a federal bank to take over homes with distressed mortgages, prioritizing environmental research, ending bailouts, restoring the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act and creating new electoral rules that help third-party candidates.

"The only way forward is with the politics of courage," she said, "standing up for the real solutions that are within our reach if we stand up and demand them."

Stein believes health care is a human right and to provide it free for all citizens would actually lower the deficit.

Other campaign issues for Stein include tuition-free higher education, a downsized military, fighting climate change and ending the use of military drone planes.

Stein said she would oppose hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which blasts a mix of water, sand and chemicals into underground natural gas deposits.

"These are extremely toxic chemicals," she said. "... We should not wait until we have polluted and poisoned our water supply to stop this."

She said her campaign refuses to accept donations from corporations or lobbyists, instead relying on small individual donations. She recently became the first Green Party candidate to meet the threshold for federal matching funds.

The $300,000 she raised will be doubled, and she anticipates spending more than $1 million on her campaign.

Republican Mitt Romney's campaign and the Republican National Committee raised $101 million last month, according to The Associated Press. President Barack Obama's campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised $75 million during the same period, The AP said.

"We're primarily Internet and social media-based," Stein said. "That didn't stop Egypt and Tunisia from transforming their political lives.”

Stein has no fear of taking votes away from a Democrat, a frequent criticism of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader in the 2000 election.

"His walk is not his talk," she said of Obama. "To look at the record, he's been able to accomplish many more favors for Wall Street, and the usual suspects, in his four years than George Bush ever could have got away with."

Third-party factor

There is a small amount of voters that will always vote third party, said Nathan L. Gonzales, the deputy editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Rothenberg Political Report.

Yet, he said, this year could be on a larger scale.

"I think because of the unpopularity of Washington, the dissatisfaction with how government is working, there is an appetite for a third-party candidate," he said.

The historic role of third parties in American elections is to bring an issue into the debate, according to G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College.

For example, Madonna said, Ross Perot's 1992 independent campaign brought the issue of the deficit to the forefront.

"If those issues catch on, one or both of the major parties co-op that issue," Madonna said. "... Once they do that, there is no reason for the third party to exist."

Other candidates

Stein joins nine other candidates for president in New Jersey and four others in Pennsylvania.

Getting on the ballot in the Keystone State is notoriously difficult for third-party candidates, according to Madonna.

Third-party candidates had until Aug. 1 to get 20,600 signatures, according to Pennsylvania Department of State spokesman Ron Ruman. Obama and Romney needed 2,000 signatures, he said.

Socialist Workers Party candidate James Harris said he decided to focus on campaigning instead of trying to get on the ballot in Pennsylvania.

Harris, on the ballot in New Jersey, said last week he would seek universal health care for all people in the country, fund a "massive" government jobs program and fight for workers' rights.

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Presidential candidates on the ballot in New Jersey and Pennsylvania:

- Barack Obama : Democratic Party

- Mitt Romney: Republican Party

- Virgil Goode: Constitution Party

- Gary Johnson: Libertarian Party

- Jill Stein: Green Party

Just in New Jersey:

- Merlin Miller: American Third Position

- Ross C. Anderson: NJ Justice Party

- Jeff Boss: NSA Did 911

- Peta Lindsay: Party for Socialism and Liberation

- James Harris: Socialist Workers Party

Sources: New Jersey and Pennsylvania departments of state