After months of front runner status, it is official.

The liberal environmentalist Green Party nominated former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney as its presidential candidate Saturday.

McKinney, 53, held off three rivals to win the party’s nomination during its convention in Chicago, Illinois. She picked journalist and activist Rosa Clemente as her running mate.

Green Party spokeswoman Scott McLarty acknowledged McKinney was a “long shot” for the White House, but said, “Every vote that she gets helps the Green Party.”

McKinney announced she would seek the presidency as a Green Party candidate late last year. She criticized the Iraq war and said both Democrats and Republicans are beholden to corrupt corporate interests.

McKinney, who was a Democrat, served six terms in Washington representing a suburban Atlanta district but was defeated in 2006 by DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson. She had been the first black woman elected to Congress from Georgia.

One of her final acts in Congress was to introduce a bill to impeach President Bush, saying he misled Congress into approving the war in Iraq and violated the law by secretly spying on citizens.