"Nader Scrambles to Collect Thousands of Signatures"

Brian Faler, Washington Post, April 3, 2004

Ralph Nader would like your autograph.

In fact, he needs it. The longtime consumer advocate, who is running
for president as an independent, must collect hundreds of thousands
of signatures from voters across the country to get his name on state
ballots for the Nov. 2 election.It is a daunting task -- despite hand-wringing from Democrats that
his campaign could affect the outcome of the presidential race --
that stands between Nader and his chances of becoming a significant
factor in the election.

The requirement stems from state laws that were designed to prevent
frivolous candidates from cluttering the ballots.

Each state has its own standards -- different signature requirements,
deadlines and time limits. Some are rather strict. Texas, for
example, requires candidates to collect 64,076 valid signatures
within two months, beginning on March 10. It also requires those
signatures to be from registered voters who did not vote in the
state's Democratic or Republican presidential primary earlier this
year.

At the other end of the spectrum, there is Tennessee, which requires
just 25 signatures -- although that number is expected to be
increased to 275 soon. New Jersey wants 800. The state of Washington
asks for 1,000. Both Colorado and Louisiana will waive their
5,000-signature requirement if Nader pays a $500 fee.

The District asks for fewer than 4,000 signatures; Maryland, about
28,000; and Virginia, 10,000.

In all, Nader will need about 620,000 valid signatures to reach his
goal of getting on the ballot in all 50 states, according to Richard
Winger, editor of Ballot Access News and a leading authority on the
topic. Nader will actually need many more than that, because scores
of signatures will probably be disqualified for a variety of reasons.
Winger said Nader needs to aim for about 900,000 signatures to clear
the bar nationwide; the candidate has estimated that he will need 1.5
million.

Nader repeatedly denounces the signature requirement -- from which
the major parties' nominees are exempt -- as unfair. "There's a
tremendous bias in state laws against third parties and independent
candidates bred by the two major parties, who pass these laws," Nader
said, when he announced his candidacy in February on NBC's "Meet the
Press."

"They don't like competition. So it's like climbing a cliff with a
slippery rope," he said.

Nader's campaign has focused its efforts on states with particularly
stringent rules: Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana, North Carolina, Georgia,
Pennsylvania and Illinois. It has been recruiting volunteers online
and at campaign stops, asking them to fan out to churches, post
offices and other public venues to urge voters to sign their
petitions. The campaign said it has recruited about 7,000 volunteers
so far.

"We might be able to do it with the 7,000 we already have," said
Kevin Zeese, Nader's spokesman. "We could certainly use more. I would
love to see us having 15,000. But I think a 7,000 base is pretty good
to start with."

Most states' deadlines are not until summer. But Nader's campaign
faces its first test of support next week in Oregon, where it will
try to qualify for the ballot in a single day. The state gives
candidates such as Nader an option: collect 15,306 signatures before
Aug. 24 or collect signatures from 1,000 registered voters attending
a nominating convention. The Nader campaign has opted for the latter,
scheduling an event in Portland on Monday.

Nader's task would be easier if he accepted the presidential
nomination of one of the minor parties that already have spaces
reserved on some states' ballots. Some members of the Green Party,
which has yet to choose its presidential candidate, want to support
Nader. The Green Party nomination would give access to ballots in 23
states, thanks to the party's performance in previous elections. The
Reform Party, founded by Texas billionaire Ross Perot, has offered
Nader its top spot, along with its seven ballot spots. The Natural
Law Party is also considering giving him its nomination and 12 ballot
lines, according to John Hegelin, the group's former presidential
candidate.

But Zeese said Nader will not accept any of those nominations because
he does not want to be too closely associated with any one party,
even if it would give him an edge in the chase for signatures. "Ralph
sees himself as an independent," Zeese said. "I think what happens is
that when you pick one party, you're defined by that party. . . .
Rather than being defined by that party, we define ourselves."

Zeese added that Nader hopes to appeal to a broad spectrum of
third-party voters and would accept their organizations' support,
volunteers and ballot lines. "It's more powerful to have a coalition
of third parties come together and say: We are joined together to
challenge the duopoly," Zeese said.

However, Nader will run with at least one party -- his own. The
candidate recently created the Populist Party, under whose banner he
will run in states that require fewer signatures from new parties
than they do from individual candidates. In North Carolina, for
example, election officials ask for about 100,000 signatures from
independent candidates but fewer than 60,000 from people organizing
new parties.

In 2000, when he was the Green Party's nominee, Nader won the votes
of more than 2.8 million voters -- including enough in two states,
Democrats have complained, to throw the election to George W. Bush.
This year, his campaign lacks not only the organizational muscle of
the Green Party but also is relying on volunteers rather than paid
signature gatherers.

In addition, Nader has earned the ire of many of his erstwhile
supporters, who argue that he ought to focus exclusively on defeating
President Bush. Democrats, some of whom in previous years may have
been tempted by Nader's leftist platform, appear to be unusually
unified behind the candidacy of Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.).

Zeese said he did not know whether such sentiments have affected the
Nader campaign's petition drives. "I don't know yet -- it's too soon
to say," he said. Zeese rejected suggestions that Republican
officials might help the campaign gather signatures. "We have had no
contact with the Republican Party," he said.

One recent poll suggests that Nader's support has tumbled. The
survey, which was conducted by the University of Pennsylvania's
Annenberg Public Policy Center, found that 21 percent of the public
has a favorable opinion of Nader, while 37 percent does not. In 2000,
the poll found 24 percent saying they had a favorable opinion of
Nader and 24 percent saying they did not.

Nader has said he will appeal this year to disgruntled conservatives
and independents. Yesterday, he posted an "Open Letter to
Conservatives Upset With the Policies of the Bush Administration,"
inviting them to join his independent campaign.

Even though Nader denounces the signature requirement as unfair,
Zeese said the petition exercise has its upside. "Ralph's approach is
to use the signature gathering hurdle as an opportunity to organize
and to gather volunteers," he said. "He's trying to turn this
challenge into an opportunity -- an opportunity to build a political
base."