The media have been predicting that the Occupy movement will fizzle because it seems (to them) more focused on occupying public space and drawing attention to issues than developing a structure and plans to address those issues. Others seek to use the movement for their own political ends. We’re repeatedly asked: who is your leadership? What are your demands? Do you have a platform? What are you going to do?

A key question is whether we will float a presidential candidate in the 2012 election. Will we challenge Barack Obama, our current Democratic president, and whoever emerges as the Republican candidate? The answer to this question is no. There will be no The Occupation Party candidate in the presidential race. It does not serve our goals.

Our long-range plan is to emerge in 2016 with a strong presidential candidate who will successfully challenge the other two parties when they are running primary candidacies against themselves and each other. To accomplish this, in 2012 our candidates will run for election to the Senate or House. We will continue communicating our agenda, platform, and values in social media and traditional media. We’ll pursue the same strategy in 2014. By 2016, we will have a strong presence in Congress, and we will have established our credibility and effectiveness.

Step by step, we will occupy the political process and the halls of government in order to set our country on a path back to true democracy.