Another minor interruption on my self-imposed moratorium on Nader-related news.
About a month ago, the Nader campaign held an event in Oregon, one of Nader’s strongest states in 2000, to help him appear on the state’s ballot in 2004. It failed miserably.
Ralph Nader continued his long and much-maligned march to win the White House Monday night with an impromptu convention in Portland designed to collect the 1,000 voter signatures necessary to qualify for Oregon’s November presidential ballot.
The tactic failed, but aides said he would try again.
A total of 741 people came to the downtown Roseland Theater to sign the petitions — 259 fewer than those the veteran consumer advocate needed to qualify for the Oregon ballot, said state Elections Director John Lindback.
Apparently, this wasn’t an isolated incident. So far, the senseless and self-defeating campaign hasn’t had success gathering the signatures anywhere. At this point, Nader isn’t on the ballot in any state.
You’ll forgive a little schadenfreude, won’t you?
The Washington Times explained that new city ordinances seem to be slowing the campaign down.
[Nader campaign spokesman Kevin] Zeese said local ordinances have cropped up around the country banning signature collecting at public events, and that will hamper the campaign’s effort to get Mr. Nader on some ballots.
“These petitioners are being blocked by universities and cities,” Mr. Zeese said. “There are a lot of restrictions that did not exist in 2000.”
Still, some states have amusingly low thresholds to make the ballot. Colorado only requires $500 and a list of presidential electors who are pledged to a candidate in the event he or she wins the state. New Jersey requires just 800 signatures, while in Tennessee, all you need is 275 signatures.
And yet, Nader still hasn’t qualified for a single state yet. I know this won’t last, but in the mean time, I’d like to quote the estimable Nelson Muntz when I say, “Ha-ha.”