Former Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney will run for president as the Green Party's nominee after winning a four-way fight at the convention in Chicago this weekend.

McKinney represented a suburban Atlanta district from 1992 to 2002, when she lost to one-term Rep. Denise Majette. Two years later, McKinney returned after defeating a crowded field as Majette ran for Senate; but after an altercation with a Capitol Hill police officer in 2005, McKinney lost her bid for re-election to Rep. Hank Johnson.

This weekend, McKinney won on the first ballot among the 350 delegates who attended the Green Party convention. This Fall, she told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Green Party expects to be on the ballot in 36 states, and their goal is to secure 5% of the vote.

That may be too ambitious a hurdle to overcome. The party's best performance, from consumer advocate Ralph Nader, drew just 3% of the vote in 2000, and in 2004, the Green Party ticket received just 0.1% of the vote. Still, with both McKinney and Nader -- running as an independent -- in the race, they have the potential to swing a few states, as any Democrat will claim happened in Florida in 2000.

McKinney isn't the only former member of Congress from Georgia to seek the White House this year. One-time Republican Rep. Bob Barr is running as a Libertarian as well.