Nader Says He'll Now Accept Signatures Collected by GOP

[DaveSZ]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0720-06.htm

Published on Tuesday, July 20, 2004 by the Associated Press
Nader Says He'll Now Accept Signatures Collected by GOP


LANSING, Mich. — In an about face, Ralph Nader decided Monday to accept thousands of petition signatures collected by Michigan Republicans if that is the only way he can qualify for the state's presidential ballot.

Last Thursday, Michigan Republican Party officials submitted 43,000 signatures -- far more than the 30,000 needed -- to ensure Nader could appear on the ballot as an independent.

Republicans began collecting signatures after it appeared that Nader might not get on the ballot as the Reform Party's candidate for president.

Nader's campaign had turned in about 5,400 signatures. But spokesman Kevin Zeese said it stopped collecting them a month ago after the national Reform Party endorsed Nader and it looked as though he could get on the ballot as its candidate.

-more

[KC21304]

1. That's our Ralphie ! nt

[cspiguy]

2. says it all. Democracy in Action (!)

:eyes:

3. He should be on the ballot

as long as the signatures are valid.
Those are the rules.
There's nothing that says Republican signatures are any less valid than Democratic ones, right?

Of course it does say something about Ralph I suppose.

If I were trying to get on the ballot I wouldn't check someone's party registration unless the rules said I had to do so. Would you?

[jpgray]

4. Well, if the only people turning out in numbers for me were Republicans

I'd be pretty depressed about my role in the election.

5. Not if you were a Republican!

:)

[jpgray]

6. True.

:)

I'm not sure if this is what you meant, but I don't quite buy that Nader is a GOP stooge. He and I agree on many things policy-wise, but I couldn't disagree more with his strategy for advancing those views. I also think he should be able to get on the ballot if he wants, but he would have made it a lot easier for himself if he had decided to run earlier--giving your opponents the opportunity to legally deny you a place on the ballot isn't really very smart.

7. I don't think he's a stooge either

I'm not sure what to make of his current actions, but I do think he is sincere and is not trying to enable Bush.

[mzmolly]

8. It's more about Republican organizers collecting signatures.

Not about collecting "Republican" signatures to my understanding? :shrug:

[yellowcanine]

9. If Ralphie had any credibility left it is gone now. Hopefully this will

backfire on the Pubbies. I can see this strenghtening the resolve of some Kerry leaners to go for Kerry and maybe even a few weak Bushies to go for Nader. I believe the combination at best will be a wash for the pubs and may end up costing them more support than what Nader takes from Kerry. This just goes against people's sense of fair play and that could really hurt the pubs with swing voters.