Nader campaign again fails to get candidate on ballot (Oregon)

[swag]

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1090583790164360.xml


With a bitter blast at the Democratic Party, Ralph Nader's organizers in Oregon acknowledged Thursday that their recent convention failed to attract enough supporters to put their candidate on the state presidential ballot.

Instead, Portland attorney Greg Kafoury said, the Nader campaign has now hired paid canvassers to conduct a petition drive that has about a month to collect 15,306 signatures from registered voters.

Kafoury and his law partner, Mark McDougal, charged that the Oregon Democratic Party was engaged in "dirty tricks" and had "sabotaged" the Nader campaign's effort to qualify for the ballot at a convention held June 26 at Portland's Benson High School.

State Democratic Chairman Jim Edmunson denied the charges and said he thought Nader's real problem was a drop in support for him.

. . .

[freetobegay]

1. Nader, oh woe is me

What a fucking idiot.

[yellowcanine]

2. How did they "sabotage" the convention - encourage people not to attend?

Seems that the Nader folks have a dozen excuses for what is a result of their own disorganization and ineptitude.

[sandnsea]

11. Filled it up FIRST

Took all the seats and then didn't sign the petition. Yes they did. :bounce:

Which seems fair to me since Nader was asking Republicans to come and sign the petition.

[yellowcanine]

19. They did that? That's funny as hell. What was to prevent the Naderites

from circulating the petition amoung the "crowd" that couldn't get in, though? Sounds like a convenient excuse to me. Maybe if the Dems had not filled up the seats they would have been mostly empty? Besides, maybe the people were there to be convinced and the Naderites just didn't convince them. Heh.

[sandnsea]

21. Don't know

I live a couple hours from Portland. All I know is that a Portland Dem worked diligently at getting people to the convention to take up the seats. He took some flak for it too, but I emailed him a great big "way to go". I thought it was funnier than hell too. I really don't think Nader is going to make the ballot here, I'm hearing alot more anger about his Republican garbage than support.

[neverforget]

3. It's everbody's fault but his own. Sound familiar? As an Oregonian,

I am MORE than happy that he's not on the ballot.

I talked to the Nader supporter that I converted a few months back and he's even turned sour on Nader. He thinks that Nader's ego has gotten the most of him now.

[SoFlaJet]

4. good to know

that Dick Armey's army of repubs didn't get the job done in Or.
HA HA(in Simpsons bully voice)

[grytpype]

5. I hope they use every dirty trick in the book against Nader.

He's Useful Idiot Number One for the Bushists, and he needs to be thwarted. Period.

[swag]

6. It's interesting that all the Republican help he had in Portland

didn't even work for him.

[MercutioATC]

7. Do you mean the GOP couldn't get him the signatures???

They did it in Michigan...

[Melodybe]

8. Too bad, so sad.

:cry:

[quaoar]

9. What's that music I hear?

Must be 1,000 crying violins playing "My Heart Pumps Piss for You."

Time for Ralph to go home.

[LordActon]

10. repubs are helping us by helping nader

Nader accepting money and signatures from republicans hurts him immensely. People voted for Nader in the past because of his unwillingness to bend from principles. This shows how quickly he'll cave just to get on the ballot. It's over for him but it will be great for us if more stories keep coming out about him accepting help from those he supposedly detests the most. Rove would be wise to shut down the open effort to get him onto ballots.

[redqueen]

12. Nader's just a tool for Rove - he's a walking dirty trick.

Our hearts bleed for you Ralph. (:puke:)

[MadHound]

13. You know folks, these kind of tactics could easily come back

And bite us on the ass. You know, say there is a situation like '92, where a third party candidate can hurt the 'Pugs. Don't you think, now that the Dems have set precedent, the 'Pugs won't follow?

Instead of trying to take Nader out with dirty tricks and legal manuevers, take him out at the ballot box. Co-opt a couple of his big issues, put them into the Democratic platform, and woo his supporters into voting Dem. Damn, that just makes too much sense apparently.

But engaging in this kind of underhanded activity only sets the precedent for future 'Pug tricks, and it really makes the party look petty and mean spirited.

[swag]

14. These tactics don't strike me as "dirty tricks" at all

given the fact that the joint was already stacked with Republicans who in no way supported Nader policies.

[MadHound]

15. Please friend, if the situation was reversed

People here and around the country would be crying foul!

The Democrats are pulling out all the stops to stop Nader, except one, which is beating him at the ballot box. It is high time the party took the high road, for these kind of shinnanigans are best left to the 'Pugs. Besides, any precedent we set now can be used against us later.

[swag]

16. The situation was reversed from the start

The Nader ballot drive was a Republican initiative here in Oregon.

[MadHound]

17. ?!?

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're saying or where you're going with it. How was the situation reversed? Perhaps you should reread my original post to understand what I mean when I say "situation reversed".

[The Doctor.]

18. Brilliant! It would be pure genius if Kerry could just steal a bunch of

Nader's issues! It may even be worth it to make sure that the Kerry campaign has that in mind. My only concern would be that some of Nader's issues might hurt Kerry's financing base.

LOL!- maybe we should try and get Buchannan back on the Ballot!
That'd put a stick up Rove's .....

[sandnsea]

23. oh horse manure

If Nader people would take the time to learn anything about Kerry, they'd already know 90% of Kerry's platform is exactly the same as Nader's. And they'd know Nader supports security, elections and the rebuilding of Iraq which would require Nader people to THINK about how that would realistically happen. It would require US troops, doh. There are people in this country who are just pure anti-establishment and have never given a moment's thought to actually making government work. It's easy to rail against something when you aren't responsible to DO anything constructive.

[Democat]

28. Nader is working for Republicans - giving in to him is giving in to Bush

Nader = Bush

They are working together to undermine Kerry and get Bush elected.

Nader is trying to get Bush elected.

Stop acting like he is anything other than part of the right wing.

He is working for Bush.

[MadHound]

30. Right wing or not,

It is mighty undemocratic of the Democratic party to be pulling these kind of underhanded tactics, especially when these self-same tactics can backfire on us in the future.

Instead of trying to weasel Nader off the ballot, welcome him to run, snag a couple of his pet issues and make them ours, then beat him at the ballot box.

Sheesh, Nader is well within his rights as an American to run for any office he pleases. It is just bad form for the Democratic party to resort to these sorts of dirty tricks to try to keep him off the ballot.

[Parche]

20. nader

They said they were going to try again here in Oregon
Isnt it too late already?
I hope it is

[David Zephyr]

22. Great News! But Who is "Paying" for the New Petition Drive?

Ralph's bankrollers within the Republican Party, of course.

[Cicero]

24. Hmph, rotsa ruck to them

15,306 valid signatures in a month? Given that petition drives generally have verification rates around 60%, they'll need at least another 10K signatures just to get the minimum.

Too bad, Ralph.

Later,

On edit: fixed number

[Fed Up]

25. Nadir is like a janitor screaming "I can save the world."

Give it up, Nadir. Nobody wants to take a chance with you. Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us you can't get fooled again.

Your website probably gets 50 hits a day.


Try and run against Kerry in 2008 if you want to be president. You cooked and served up your candy-coated horse shit in 2000, and we had to eat it. No more.

[WMliberal]

26. undoes that other post about polling in OR

Kerry was only ahead of * by 8 points, because of Nader attracting so many votes. I guess this makes Oregon the safe state it should be.

[West Coast Democrat]

27. When we see the canvassers, we should sign the ballot!

Just think of all the phony names they'll have to check out!!

[yellowcanine]

29. Uh - don't do that - I believe you could actually be prosecuted for

signing a fake name - chances of being caught are probably remote, but still.....

[West Coast Democrat]

31. Then just write in really, really poor handwriting?