Danger! Nader threat listed by state.

[cmayer]

It's not as bad as a thought, but still something to worry about. I only checked battleground states and only found 5 that looked in serious risk. But they are pretty scary. They are in order of importance and listed by needed signatures and completion date: Ohio (5000, 8/19), Minnesota (1710, 9/14), Wisconsin (2000, 8/1 thru 9/7), Iowa (1500, 8/13) and Nevada (5015, (7/9).

If Nader doesn't make the ballot in any of those 5 states I predict it will be a Kerry landslide, unless stolen.

[phillybri]

What about PA?

He could be a real pain in the ass there...

[cmayer]

5. PA needs 25,697 by 8/2

If he can hit that number in PA, he can hit it in most states. Having some experience in collecting valid signatures, I think it's a real reach.

[Mobius]

12. Do you know what PA is right now?

and where did you get the info, so I can keep myself updated?

[cmayer]

15. I got the info from Nader's Web site.

He has a list of requirements for each state and what their goals are. Most states have pretty steep requirements if the state ballot does not have a party line.

I don't know of how his petitions are doing except in Oregon, where he failed to draw 1000 people to a meeting. He now has to get 15,000 signatures there.

[napi21]

1. Is there any info on where Nader stands on getting on ballots?

All I've heard is when he tried to do it the quick way in Oregon and didn't get enough people.

I wonder if there's any info on the net about where he stands now?

[jtb33]

2. question...

How many signatures did/does he need *total* for each state to get on the ballot? Or is it a percentage dependant upon the respective state population?

[cmayer]

6. It depends on each state's law.

The easiest states seem to be the early 20th century mid-west "Progressive Republican" states. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa among others.

[Frodo]

3. Nader will be on the ballot unless someone convinces him to drop out.

A couple thousand signatures on a petition is no great hurdle. Take a look at the results for the 2000 Presidential campaign. Ohio had eight candidates on the Presidential line

Gore, Bush, Ralph Nader ,'Pat' Buchanan, Harry Browne, John S. Hagelin, Howard Phillips, and James E. Harris Jr.

MN had 11, Iowa had 9, Nevada had 7, and Wisconsin had 9.


If that many people can get on the ballot (when most of them got well under 1% of the vote) then Nader can get on with 3-6% support nation-wide.

No, we need to convince him to drop out or plan on how to win with him taking a point or two net from Kerry.

[cmayer]

7. Those are states I'm worried about.

Plus, some of those were party lines. I would be very happy if he wasn't able to reach in Ohio. I'm guessing he'll make it in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Nevada may be tough, but not crucial anyway.

[polar]

9. All of those people had "parties"

Even though they were small parties, they had the backing of them. Nader will be running under NO party thus MUCH harder for him to actually be placed onto the ballot.

[incapsulated]

28. While that is true

He has something they don't, aside from Buchanan. National name recognition.

[newyawker99]

31. Hi polar!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[incapsulated]

27. Yikes

A couple thousand signatures on a petition is no great hurdle. Take a look at the results for the 2000 Presidential campaign. Ohio had eight candidates on the Presidential line

Gore, Bush, Ralph Nader ,'Pat' Buchanan, Harry Browne, John S. Hagelin, Howard Phillips, and James E. Harris Jr.

MN had 11, Iowa had 9, Nevada had 7, and Wisconsin had 9.


If that many people can get on the ballot (when most of them got well under 1% of the vote) then Nader can get on with 3-6% support nation-wide.

That is a frightenly good point. Although it's hard to gauge exactly the amount of votes Nader is going to get on election day, regardless of the polls. I don't completely trust them on this issue at this point, with so much time to go yet.

[GainesT1958]

4. Ohio and Nevada may be really tough for him to make...

But I'll bet he'll make the others. Let's just make sure we do a good enough GOTV effort in those Midwestern states to mean that whatever votes he gets there won't matter!

B-)

[IntrepBerkExplor]

8. no sign of Nader in Berkeley

In Berkeley, California, where I live, there is no visible indication of a Nader campaign. The Green Party is quite active here, and will have their candidate for President on the ballot. By severing his ties with the Greens, Nader will be much less of a factor than in 2000, when he received more votes in Berkeley than Bush.

[DaveSZ]

10. Kerry needs to adopt some of NAder's message

just like he did to Dean's message.


He should talk about giving people a living wage, reevaluating the drug war, etc.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. I'm with you there, Dave :)

[madeuplikebowie]

13. Didn't Nader say

Didnt Nader say we really really need to send Bush back to Crawford? That we need to defeat this "huge corporation disguised as a human being?" How does his running help us kick Bush out. Anyone?

[sandnsea]

16. He has

He just talked about both at CCNY. You'll have to watch the speech, I think it includes the Q&A which is where it came up. http://blog.johnkerry.com/blog/archives/001538.html#more

He's talked about a living wage for months now. He voted against all the mandatory sentencing laws. He's talked about changing our approach to drugs to treatment and prevention. He's said he doesn't believe in prosecuting for simple possession. I really don't know how much clearer he could be.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JHBowden]

17. Kerry already is progressive.

Kerry is awesome on energy and environmental issues, supports gun control, opposes capital punishment, has voted to cut much of the waste out of the pentagon, etc. etc.

Of course, none of this matters if Kerry is President of Nothing, as Skinner has pointed out.

[elperromagico]

23. The problem is, you have Bush on one side saying Kerry's too liberal,

and Nader on the other saying Kerry's too conservative.

It's a rough spot to be in. If Kerry tries to pick up Bush voters, he'll get hammered for being too conservative. If he tries to pick up Nader voters, he'll get hammered for being too liberal.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[OutlawCorporatePolls]

18. but i thought...

...the Reform Party was courting him.. Wouldnt that be good news for dems in these states actually?

http://www.yellowdogblog.com/mt/archives/000157.html

And the Refromers wanted him in 2000 too.
http://monkeyfist.com/articles/540


Too bad he went Green in 2000. yuk. Greens are clueless, but the Reformers brought in 18% of the popular vote in 1992 with perot and crushed poppy bush. Why wouldnt you want that to happen again this year?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. If kerry wants those votes he better do something to get them.

Instead of caving to the rightwing of the party at every swing in the polls.

It seems like every time I'm just about ready to break out the heavy duty clothespins and barfbucket and vote for him, he edges more to the right.

I can't believe how much of a weak kneed pantywaist he's turned into.

[Kathleen04]

20. Here's a complete list of how many signatures Nader needs

to get on the ballot in each state:

Nader Ballot Access:

Alabama: 5,000 valid signatures by August 31st
Alaska: 2,878 by August 4th
Arizona: 14,694 by June 9th
Arkansas: 1,000 by August 2nd
California: 153,805 by August 6th
Colorado: No signatures required
Connecticut: 7,500 by August 1st
Delaware: 5,205 by July 15th
DC: 3,600 by August 17th
Florida: 94,000 by July 15th
Georgia: 38,567 by July 13th
Hawaii: 3,677 by September 3rd
Idaho: 5,016 by August 24th
Illinois: 25,000 by June 14th
Indiana: 29,552 by June 30th
Iowa: 1,500 from 10 counties by August 13th
Kansas: 5,000 by August 2nd
Kentucky: 5,000 by September 7th
Louisiana: No signatures required
Maine: 4,000 by August 15th
Maryland: 10,000 by August 2nd
Massachusetts: 10,000 by August 3rd
Michigan: 30,000 by July 15th; 100 from half of congressional districts; collected w/i 180 days
Minnesota: 1,710 by September 14th
Mississippi: 1,000 by September 3rd
Missouri: 10,000 by July 15th and 1 delegate from each district
Montana: 1,489 by August 18th
Nebraska: 2,500 by August 24th
Nevada: 5,015 by July 9th
New Hampshire: 3,000 by June 2nd—1,500 from each of 2 districts
New Jersey: 800 by June 8th
New Mexico: 17,958 by September 7th
New York: 15,000 by August 10th (may start collecting on July 6th)
North Carolina: 80,000 by July 6th
North Dakota: 4,000 by October 3rd
Ohio: 5,000 by August 19th
Oklahoma: 37,027 by July 15th
Oregon: 15,306 by July 2nd
Pennsylvania: 25,697 by August 2nd
Rhode Island: 1,000 by September 3rd
South Carolina: 10,000 by July 15th
South Dakota: 3,346 by August 3rd
Tennessee: 275 by August 19th
Texas: 65,000 from people who did not vote in party primary; collected between March 10 and May 10
Utah: 1,000 by September 2nd
Vermont: 1,000 by September 2nd
Virginia: 10,000 w/ 400 from each district by August 20th
Washington: 200 by July 5th
West Virginia: 12,962 by August 1st
Wisconsin: 2,000 collected between August 1st and Sept. 7th
Wyoming: 3,643 by August 23rd

[elperromagico]

22. Thank you for that info.

[Kathleen04]

26. You're Welcome

:)

[LoZoccolo]

21. Whiners don't care about ballots.

If anyone is so unwise as to still even think of voting Nader, they'll write him in. I don't think it matters if he's on the ballot.

[elperromagico]

24. But he's not likely to get nearly as many write-in votes.

Write-in votes comprised 0.02% of the vote in 2000.

Remember, also, that some ballots and voting methods don't really allow for write-in votes.

[elperromagico]

25. Which state ballots would you say Nader will have the easiest time

getting onto?

Colorado and Louisiana have no requirements for getting onto the ballot, so he's on there. What others?

[mzmolly]

29. Nader wont have a problem making the Minnesota ballot...

I can pretty much guarantee that. I don't think he'll have a problem in Wisconsin or Iowa either.

[meti57b]

30. the republicans will put nader on the ballot in every swing state.

[snippy]

32. True. They will do it easily.

[Hippo_Tron]

33. Which I think is the hypocrisy of Nader

He claims he isn't running to take away votes from Kerry. Yet most of the people signing his petition will be Republicans and he knows damn well why they are signing it.

[Snivi Yllom]

34. you forgot Florida, Nader is already on the ballot.

[mdguss]

35. Get a petition for some wacko libertarian:

Get people to sign it, and turn it in to their campaign. In some states, you can only sign one petition. Might be a way to undermine Ralph Nader (I--I is for Idiot).

[NewYorkerfromMass]

36. And that's only the ones before some are disqualified

I love the smell of defeated Naders in the morning.