Nader's Run
Don't look now--Ralph Nader is doing even better than he was at this point in 2000.
by Matthew Continetti
06/01/2004 12:00:00 AM
FROM:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/141ycmff.aspIT HAD ALL THE TRAPPINGS of an international summit. By the time Ralph Nader visited Senator John Kerry at the Democrat's campaign headquarters on May 19, the meeting had been hyped for days. Washington salivated in anticipation. Reporters huddled outside Kerry HQ looked as though they had been transported miraculously to Yalta, 1945, waiting patiently for Roosevelt to shake hands with Stalin.
The Washington summit wasn't as cozy as Yalta. Photos show the tall, ragged Nader shaking hands with the tall, blow-dried Kerry. Look at them and you see Nader wearing a plaintive, satisfied look on his face. Not Kerry. His eyes are open wide, and his smile exaggerated, frozen in place. The man looks scared.
Here's why. When Nader entered the race this year, he had little money, little support, and no ballot access. His name wasn't on the ballot in a single state, which was a far cry from 2000, when he was on the ballot in 43 states and Washington, DC. But on May 13 the Reform party endorsed and explicitly nominated Nader, which could put him on the ballot in seven states, including Florida. Richard Winger, the editor of Ballot Access News, says that because the Reform party is in shambles, it's more likely the party's nomination will put Nader on the ballot in just three states: Mississippi, where the Reform party's national chairman, Sean O'Hara, resides; Colorado, where anyone can get on the ballot for $500; and Florida.
And you can probably add Texas to that list. Nader has
sued the state for unfair ballot access laws. In Texas, independent presidential candidates need 64,000 signatures to get on the ballot. This week Nader campaign staff delivered 80,045 signatures to the Texas statehouse. The problem is that they were two weeks late. Nader's suit, which would strike down the May 10 deadline and get Nader on the Texas ballot, is pending, with a hearing scheduled for July. Experts say it's likely Nader will win.
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