Ralph Nader presidential campaign, 2004

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Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader ran for the office of U.S. Presidency in the 2004 election, as he also had in several previous elections. In 1996 and 2000, Nader was the candidate of the Green Party; in the 2004 election, however, he ran as an independent candidate. He received 463,653 votes, for 0.4% of the total vote. Nader won the 2004 endorsement of the Reform Party USA, and thus appeared on the ballot as the Reform Party candidate in several states. In some states, Nader was on the ballot as an independent candidate, while in other states, Nader was deemed not to have met the requirements for ballot access. In Delaware, Nader accepted the endorsement of the Independent Party of Delaware on August 15. [7] In New York Nader was nominated by the Independence Party at their party convention, and also appeared on the ballot under the Peace and Justice Party ballot lines.

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[edit] Populist Party

In states where ballot access is more readily available by forming a new political party than by filing as an independent candidate, the Ralph Nader campaign chose to create the Populist Party. Nader appeared on the 2004 general election ballot under the designation "A Better Life" in the State of Minnesota and "The Better Life" in the State of Louisiana.

This Populist Party has no connection either to the much earlier American political party of that name, or to the late-twentieth century Populist Party, which ran candidates such as David Duke and Bo Gritz and was widely regarded as a racist, white supremacist organization.

It was expected that the new Populist Party organization would exist only for the strictly limited purpose of achieving ballot access for Ralph Nader in 2004. However, an effort is underway by the Populist Party of Maryland to field candidates for governor, other statewide seats and at the local level for the State Assembly, county and municipal positions in the 2005 and 2006 elections.

[edit] Nader on the ballot

As of October 26, 2004, Nader was slated to appear on the ballot in 34 states and Washington, DC, and was off the ballot in eight states (California, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Virginia).

In several states, Nader's candidacy in 2004 became a point of dispute in the struggle between the Democratic and Republican Parties. Some Republicans and other conservatives supported Nader's right to be on the ballot, often with the hope that Nader's presence on the ballot would detract votes from the Democratic Party candidate.[1][2] where they failed to get on the ballot. In Montana Camejo was replaced with Karen Sanchirico, an Ada County, Idaho Green Party activist and founder of Idaho Patriots.[3]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Michael Janofsky and Sarah Kershaw, "Odd Alliances Form to Get Nader on Ballot," New York Times, 1 July 2004. Democrats used a variety of tactics and legal maneuvers aimed at keeping Nader off the ballot. Democratic Party supporters in some states alleged that election officials had placed Nader on the ballot improperly, and they instituted legal proceedings to remove him from the ballot. The following list, based on information from Nader's campaign website, summarizes whether Nader appeared on a state's ballot, and whether that status had been disputed as of late October 2004, by Nader or his opponents:

    Of the swing states, Nader was off the ballot in 4 (MO, OH, PA, VA), disputed off in 3 (AZ, OR, WI), disputed unknown in 1 (IA), disputed on in 8 (AR, CO, FL, ME, MI, NV, NH, WV), and on in 5 (LA, MN, NM, TN, WA).

    In some states where Nader's name was not printed on the ballot, write-in votes for the Nader/Camejo ticket were still permitted and counted.

    In Alabama and New York, a ballot line appeared in which running mate Peter Camejo was replaced with Jan D. Pierce, a Vice President of the Communications Workers of America and in 2000 was head of "Labor for Nader." Pierce had also been filed as his running mate in Ohio,<ref>

    [http://server6.sos.state.oh.us/boe/cbeinfo/directives/2004/mainDocs/Dir2004-27.pdf] ([[PDF]])</li> <li id="cite_note-1">'''[[#cite_ref-1|^]]''' [http://server6.sos.state.oh.us/boe/cbeinfo/memorandums/2004/04pdfMemos/Memo08-26-04Letters.pdf] ([[PDF]])</li> <li id="cite_note-2">'''[[#cite_ref-2|^]]''' [http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2004/2004presgenresults.pdf.0211051334 2004 Official Presidential General Election Results]</li></ol></ref>

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