Nader Faces Legal and Ballot Challenges, Dwindling Support
The activist, accepting the Reform nomination today in Texas, says Democrats are trying to silence him with an orchestrated campaign.
If Sen. John F. Kerry thinks he's having a tough time fending off attacks on his military record, he ought to consider the plight of independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader.
The well-known consumer advocate, who Democrats fear will again siphon critical votes from their nominee, faces court challenges in more than a dozen states. He's struggling to get on other state ballots, and the college students and Hollywood celebrities who once lavished praise want nothing to do with him.
Democrats have pledged to file legal challenges against Nader's ballot efforts in many of the 17 states whose deadlines for filing signatures are in the coming weeks. And although it won't be clear until October how many state ballots will bear Nader's name, Democrats are confident it will be significantly fewer than the 43 states where he appeared in 2000.
As he accepts the nomination as the Reform Party candidate today in Irving, Texas, Nader has qualified for the Nov. 2 ballot in seven states and has gathered enough signatures to add his name to half a dozen more.
But he has failed to qualify in another dozen states, including delegate-rich California, Arizona, Texas and Michigan.
Nader attributes it to "an orchestrated Democratic campaign" to silence him.
The lanky, graying activist who became famous for championing consumer reforms has weathered accusations by Democrats that his campaign has received money and signature-gathering support from Republicans and the corporate interests that Nader has spent his career fighting.
After gaining 2.7% of the national vote in the 2000 election as the Green Party candidate, the former darling of many Hollywood liberals has lost even that support. Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore got on bended knee during a cable TV show to beg Nader to drop out of the race.
This spring, Nader was dumped by the Green Party, and many former followers have launched anti-Nader websites — one circulating a "Bush/Nader" campaign bumper sticker, suggesting his potential effect on the November results.
On a campaign stop this week at Creighton University here — a stage where Nader once drew adoring crowds — a 1,000-seat auditorium held 75 students. The "Doonesbury" comic strip is lampooning him as a stubborn megalomaniac.
But the maverick public figure remains unapologetic and unbowed. His campaign website advertises a "spoiler" T-shirt while he bills himself as the only candidate ready to take on corporate greed and bring U.S. troops home from Iraq.
Nader, on his third run for the presidency, claims Democrats have played "dirty tricks" on him by harassing his signature gatherers and telephoning petition signers to discourage them from supporting him.
"If the Democrats would get off our back, we'd take apart the Bush administration in ways they're too cowardly, too indentured and too unimaginative to do," Nader told students here.
Many Democrats have put their imaginations to work looking for ways to marginalize Nader — including many who worked side by side with him for years on consumer safety, labor rights and environmental protection campaigns in Washington and across the country.
"We want to discredit him as a national candidate because of the illegal tactics his supporters are using to get him on these ballots and because he doesn't have the third-party support he claims," said Toby Moffett, a former Connecticut congressman who co-founded Ballot Project Inc., which helps coordinate legal challenges against Nader's campaign.
"He's on some personal agenda, living off a reputation from 30 years ago."
In many lawsuits, Democrats have argued that the Nader ballot petitions are riddled with fraud. In one Ohio county, following a Democratic court challenge, a county elections board ruled that fewer than 4% — or 24 of 633 — of the petition signatures submitted by the Nader campaign were valid.
"I've never seen such a well-organized, well-financed and well-staffed effort to oppose Mr. Nader," said Samuel C. Stretton, a lawyer defending a legal challenge in Pennsylvania.
Nader appeared this week to have collected the 15,000 signatures required to appear on the ballot in Oregon, but further legal challenges were expected.
According to recent Los Angeles Times polls, Nader is attracting as much as 4% of the vote in some battleground states. Yet much of the $1.7 million he has raised is being spent to defend the ballot challenges.
Nader supporters are often voters alienated by the two-party system, and people who think corporations play too large a role in American politics.
Pollster John Zogby said it was unclear who would be hurt more if Nader remained in the presidential race — the Republicans or Democrats.
"Half of Nader voters would not vote if he dropped out of the race," he said. "A quarter of them are people who would otherwise vote for Kerry. But interestingly, we're finding that a quarter are being taken from Bush."
Still, Democrats remain wary.
"As hard as we're working on this, as much volunteer help we have, we have this eerie feeling that it's not going to be enough," said Moffett. "The guy is bound and determined to succeed. And in the real close states, his presence could once again come back to haunt us."
So why is Nader determined to stay in the race? Even his harshest critics think it is more than just an ego thing.
"He has a large vision and a big enough character to go with it. But it misses the point to merely criticize him as a monster ego," said Theodore Lowi, a government professor at Cornell University and a former Nader supporter.
"He's a free radical, a voice like William Jennings Bryan or Abraham Lincoln that doesn't seem to fit. People have to fit themselves to him."
Creighton University sophomore Nick Ernster isn't sure he can fit his vote into the Nader camp this year.
"I really liked what Nader said," Ernster said after hearing the candidate speak. "He's so seductive, the way he makes so much sense in such an unvarnished way."
Then Ernster sighed and fiddled with his notebook, saying he would vote for Kerry anyway.
"This election is too important to vote merely on principle. We've got to defeat George W. Bush," the student said. "And I feel that to support Ralph Nader this time around is just throwing my vote away."
John M. Glionna, Times Staff Writer
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives.
If Sen. John F. Kerry thinks he's having a tough time fending off attacks on his military record, he ought to consider the plight of independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader.
The well-known consumer advocate, who Democrats fear will again siphon critical votes from their nominee, faces court challenges in more than a dozen states. He's struggling to get on other state ballots, and the college students and Hollywood celebrities who once lavished praise want nothing to do with him.
Democrats have pledged to file legal challenges against Nader's ballot efforts in many of the 17 states whose deadlines for filing signatures are in the coming weeks. And although it won't be clear until October how many state ballots will bear Nader's name, Democrats are confident it will be significantly fewer than the 43 states where he appeared in 2000.
As he accepts the nomination as the Reform Party candidate today in Irving, Texas, Nader has qualified for the Nov. 2 ballot in seven states and has gathered enough signatures to add his name to half a dozen more.
But he has failed to qualify in another dozen states, including delegate-rich California, Arizona, Texas and Michigan.
Nader attributes it to "an orchestrated Democratic campaign" to silence him.
The lanky, graying activist who became famous for championing consumer reforms has weathered accusations by Democrats that his campaign has received money and signature-gathering support from Republicans and the corporate interests that Nader has spent his career fighting.
After gaining 2.7% of the national vote in the 2000 election as the Green Party candidate, the former darling of many Hollywood liberals has lost even that support. Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore got on bended knee during a cable TV show to beg Nader to drop out of the race.
This spring, Nader was dumped by the Green Party, and many former followers have launched anti-Nader websites — one circulating a "Bush/Nader" campaign bumper sticker, suggesting his potential effect on the November results.
On a campaign stop this week at Creighton University here — a stage where Nader once drew adoring crowds — a 1,000-seat auditorium held 75 students. The "Doonesbury" comic strip is lampooning him as a stubborn megalomaniac.
But the maverick public figure remains unapologetic and unbowed. His campaign website advertises a "spoiler" T-shirt while he bills himself as the only candidate ready to take on corporate greed and bring U.S. troops home from Iraq.
Nader, on his third run for the presidency, claims Democrats have played "dirty tricks" on him by harassing his signature gatherers and telephoning petition signers to discourage them from supporting him.
"If the Democrats would get off our back, we'd take apart the Bush administration in ways they're too cowardly, too indentured and too unimaginative to do," Nader told students here.
Many Democrats have put their imaginations to work looking for ways to marginalize Nader — including many who worked side by side with him for years on consumer safety, labor rights and environmental protection campaigns in Washington and across the country.
"We want to discredit him as a national candidate because of the illegal tactics his supporters are using to get him on these ballots and because he doesn't have the third-party support he claims," said Toby Moffett, a former Connecticut congressman who co-founded Ballot Project Inc., which helps coordinate legal challenges against Nader's campaign.
"He's on some personal agenda, living off a reputation from 30 years ago."
In many lawsuits, Democrats have argued that the Nader ballot petitions are riddled with fraud. In one Ohio county, following a Democratic court challenge, a county elections board ruled that fewer than 4% — or 24 of 633 — of the petition signatures submitted by the Nader campaign were valid.
"I've never seen such a well-organized, well-financed and well-staffed effort to oppose Mr. Nader," said Samuel C. Stretton, a lawyer defending a legal challenge in Pennsylvania.
Nader appeared this week to have collected the 15,000 signatures required to appear on the ballot in Oregon, but further legal challenges were expected.
According to recent Los Angeles Times polls, Nader is attracting as much as 4% of the vote in some battleground states. Yet much of the $1.7 million he has raised is being spent to defend the ballot challenges.
Nader supporters are often voters alienated by the two-party system, and people who think corporations play too large a role in American politics.
Pollster John Zogby said it was unclear who would be hurt more if Nader remained in the presidential race — the Republicans or Democrats.
"Half of Nader voters would not vote if he dropped out of the race," he said. "A quarter of them are people who would otherwise vote for Kerry. But interestingly, we're finding that a quarter are being taken from Bush."
Still, Democrats remain wary.
"As hard as we're working on this, as much volunteer help we have, we have this eerie feeling that it's not going to be enough," said Moffett. "The guy is bound and determined to succeed. And in the real close states, his presence could once again come back to haunt us."
So why is Nader determined to stay in the race? Even his harshest critics think it is more than just an ego thing.
"He has a large vision and a big enough character to go with it. But it misses the point to merely criticize him as a monster ego," said Theodore Lowi, a government professor at Cornell University and a former Nader supporter.
"He's a free radical, a voice like William Jennings Bryan or Abraham Lincoln that doesn't seem to fit. People have to fit themselves to him."
Creighton University sophomore Nick Ernster isn't sure he can fit his vote into the Nader camp this year.
"I really liked what Nader said," Ernster said after hearing the candidate speak. "He's so seductive, the way he makes so much sense in such an unvarnished way."
Then Ernster sighed and fiddled with his notebook, saying he would vote for Kerry anyway.
"This election is too important to vote merely on principle. We've got to defeat George W. Bush," the student said. "And I feel that to support Ralph Nader this time around is just throwing my vote away."
John M. Glionna, Times Staff Writer
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives.
posted by R7 | 8/28/2004 12:28:00 PM
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