Several state and national polls continue to include Ralph Nader’s name in the mix, but considering that he won’t be appearing on most ballots, that’s probably a mistake.
The latest setbacks come by way of Pennsylvania and Missouri, two key battleground states in which Nader was hoping to make some kind of point that no can seem to identify.
Ralph Nader’s bid to be listed as an independent candidate on Pennsylvania’s presidential ballot was rejected Monday by a judicial panel, eliminating a political wild card that Democrats had feared would give President Bush an advantage in a major battleground state.
The three-judge panel said he had forfeited his right to run as an independent by accepting the nomination of the national Reform Party. Pennsylvania law prohibits a person who is affiliated with a political party from running as an independent, and the Commonwealth Court panel dismissed Nader’s argument that the ban applied only to Pennsylvania residents.
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Separately, officials in Missouri said Monday that Nader won’t be on the presidential ballot there.
Secretary of State Matt Blunt had said Aug. 18 that Nader supporters had failed to submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. The Nader campaign had said it was considering whether to fight the matter in court.
Friday was the deadline to appeal, and court officials said Monday that Nader had filed nothing in Cole County Circuit Court, the seat of state government.
It’s not all bad news for Nader, however.
In Virginia, a GOP state that is surprisingly competitive this year, Jerry Kilgore, the state’s Republican attorney general, originally agreed with a decision by the state electoral board to keep Nader off the ballot. The board had questioned the legitimacy of the signatures the Nader campaign had submitted.
Miraculously, 72 hours later, he changed his mind and insisted that Nader must be on the ballot.
Did I mention that Kilgore is the chairman of Virginia’s Bush-Cheney campaign? I’m sure it was just a coincidence.