Don't look now--Ralph Nader is doing even better than he was at this point

[AmyStrange]

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.asp
IT 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.

<SNIP>

[FreakinDJ]

1. Nader = Rep spoiler..thats all

What makes any one thinks Nader flying under the radar as no one gives him any serious chance to win and there fore does not examine him closely, could actually be fit for the office

If he was actually in the lime light, I mean some thing other then just the Republican spoiler, then we might find out what he is actually about.

Some thing I am sure 99% of all Americans would reject HANDS DOWN

Any one that would knowingly accept republican money to be a spoiler NOT ONCE but TWICE is one slimy bottom feeder of the political arena

[1monster]

2. Yes, but the joke is on the Repubicans this time. I know many who

are thoroughly disenchanted with Bush, but for some reason or another (that never say die Republicanism, I guess) cannot bring themselves to vote for Kerry. They say they will vote for Nader.

Even in the polls, this time, it looks like Nader will syphon off the Republican votes and it will hurt Bush.

[dolstein]

5. Nice try, but none of the polls support your claims

The polls repeatedly show, as they did in 2000, that more Nader voters would vote for the Democratic candidate than the Republican candidate if Nader weren't on the ballot. In short, Nader hurts Kerry more than Bush.

[1monster]

10. Excuse me? The LA Times Poll the other day showed

that Nader pulled one percent of his votes from Kerry and three percent from Bush. Did you miss that poll?

Look, I think Nader is a megalomanic with a massive ego and I think that he would not be a good President for this country, but he is in the race and the best way to handle that is to turn it to our advantage.

[debsianben]

7. What about Kerry?

Kerry has taken tons of Republican money. In fact, up through January 2004, a lot of his biggest donors were also giving (more) money to the Commander-in-Chimp, apperantly in an effort to undermine the Dean campaign.

Does that make Kerry a slimy bottom feeder?

Any party that can't think of a winning strategy that doesn't involve one of the opposition candidates is doomed to failure.

[Still_Loves_John]

9. Uh, yeah...

Most big companies give money to both parties, for obvious reasons. Not everything is an evil plot to take down Howard Dean...

[w13rd0]

3. the weekly standard?

that doesn't exactly bolster the case to me...

[Cocoa]

4. neocon desperation

the Chalabi thing really has them down.

[sangha]

6. What joke

The article says Nadir is doing better this year because:

Which leaves him with $181,345 in cash on hand.

But compare that number with what Nader had in 2000. Reports filed with the FEC show that Nader had $67,189.47 in cash on hand as of April 30, 2000. In other words, Nader is in better financial shape this year.

Nader has about $120K more in money now than he had in 6/2000. For a presidential race, that's nothing. Even worse for a candidate who claims to be running a low budget campaign.

It banishes the real truth to a parenthetical remark:

(The Nader poll number that has changed significantly from 2000, incidentally, is his favorable/unfavorable rating. In April 2000 Gallup showed Nader with a 41 percent favorable rating and a 20 percent unfavorable rating. But an April 2004 CBS poll shows Nader with only an 11 percent favorable rating and a 31 percent
unfavorable.)

His favorables were cut to a quarter of what they were, and his unfavorable rose 50%. More people don't like him, and fewer people do like him.

Yep, Nader's doing just great.

[incapsulated]

8. Nader can harm a lot by doing very little

He doesn't need campaign money, anyone considering voting for him knows who he is, he isn't running some national campaign to win.

The problem is if he is on the ballot, people in those states know that they have the option to pull the lever for him on election day.

If the race stays this close in the swing states, all he needs to do is siphon off 2 or 3 percent to possibly throw the election to Bush.

[DeaconBlues]

12. But Nader knows how to cut corners

Like using a charity's office to run his campaign out of.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37363-2004Jun12.html

[rasputin1952]

11. Doesn't make a bit of difference to me...

He can't win the presidency, he is a political liability; and he doesn't have the sense to know it.