Nader seeks Reform Party’s aid to get on ballot

[Laura Kamienski <tkd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

  Vol. 68/No. 20           May 25, 2004
 http://www.themilitant.com/2004/6820/682053.html

Nader seeks Reform Party’s aid to get on ballot

BY SAM MANUEL
WASHINGTON, D.C.—In his effort to secure ballot status in this year’s
presidential election, Ralph Nader has been working to persuade leaders
of both the Reform and Green parties to list him as their candidate in a
number of states. Nader is a liberal political figure who was the Green
Party’s presidential candidate in the 2000 elections.

The Hartford Courant reported April 3 that Nader, who is running as an
independent, had “met and exchanged letters with third-party officials
to negotiate what he says is a pragmatic strategy that would help him
gain access to all 50 ballots.” Where Nader’s supporters are unable to
get him on state ballots, wrote reporter Janice D’Arcy, Nader will try a
variety of tactics. In some states he will identify himself as the
candidate of his newly formed Populist Party, while in others he will
gain the endorsement of third parties. “I would still be an independent
candidate, I would just appear on their ballot lines,” he said.

Nader has emphasized that he will accept the two parties’ nomination on
a state-by-state basis only. The Green Party has ballot status in 23
states and the Reform Party in seven.

Reform Party chairman Shawn O’Hara told the April 18 Los Angeles Times
that the party would probably name Nader as their candidate in several
states. “We have a terrific bond with Ralph,” he said. O’Hara said
Reform leaders and Nader had explored common ground on “non-social” issues.

The Reform Party was founded in 1992 as a vehicle for the presidential
ambitions of Ross Perot, a rightist billionaire businessman. Presenting
himself as a strong man and uncorrupted candidate who would confront the
“elite,” Perot called for massive cuts to social spending and made a
particular appeal to Special Forces in the military.

Eight years later, ultrarightist politician Patrick Buchanan pushed
Perot’s supporters aside and carried out a takeover of the party for his
2000 presidential election bid. Following his setback in that election
campaign, the ultrarightist pulled away from the party again.

Nader said that he is proposing nothing more than a tactical alliance
with the Reform Party. “We’re talking two or three states,” he said in
early April. “It’s no compromise of any principles.”

Last February, Nader paid tribute to Perot’s “undeniable patriotism,”
asking him to speak out in opposition to the ballooning federal budget
deficit. “Ross Perot is exceptionally credible on federal deficits,” he
said. The businessman had “made the issue a core of his campaign in
1992,” he added, avoiding mention of Perot’s proposals to slash social
welfare entitlements.

Nader has also met with leaders of the Green Party, which nominated him
as its candidate in the last two presidential races. The Courant noted
the potential clash between Reform and the Greens over immigration
policy and other issues. “We are sick and tired of this country being
flooded by immigrants,” O’Hara of the Reform Party told the paper. The
Green Party’s platform states, “We must accept the contributions and
rights of our immigrants.”

The paper reported that Nader has stayed away from such potential
conflicts, saying that he agrees with “most points on both platforms.”
Nader’s own platform focuses heavily on the so-called independent
character of his campaign and contains many denunciations of “corporate
rule and its expanding domination.”

On April 19 Nader said the “U.S. should withdraw from Iraq” after the
formation of an “international peace-keeping force” there under the
auspices of the United Nations. “Ralph Nader is a respected voice that
will be listened to and get a hearing” on these issues, said Green Party
leader Peter Camejo. Camejo has been mentioned as a possible running
mate for Nader, said the Los Angeles Times.

The Washington Post reported that at the Green Party’s national meeting
last July delegates debated inconclusively on whether to run the
strongest possible campaign in every state, to run only in those states
where the vote for Nader would not threaten the Democratic candidate
with loss of electoral votes, or to throw the party’s support to the
Democratic Party nominee.

Democratic Party spokespeople point to Nader as a substantial factor in
the loss of their candidate, Albert Gore, to Republican George Bush in
the 2000 election. Nader, who presented his campaign as a “pull to the
left” for the Democratic Party, was on the ballot in 43 states and
received almost 3 million votes—2.7 percent of the total.

Howard Dean, who contested for the Democratic nomination, told a
Portland radio station that he considered a vote for Nader a vote for
Bush. “I’m trying to convince people that a vote for [party candidate]
John Kerry is much more sensible,” Dean said.

Elijah Cummings, chairman of the Democrat-dominated Congressional Black
Caucus, said the group would seek a meeting with Nader to plead with him
to drop out of the presidential race.
--
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