Nader Selects Camejo as Running Mate

WASHINGTON (AP) — Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader
selected longtime Green Party activist Peter Camejo to be his running
mate on Monday, a move sure to boost his chances of winning the Green
Party's endorsement this week and its access to ballot lines in 22
states and the District of Columbia.Camejo, an investment adviser from Folsom, Calif., had been one of
two leading contenders for the Green Party's presidential

The announcement came in advance of the Green Party convention
beginning Wednesday in Milwaukee. Nader, who ran as the Green Party
candidate in 2000, is not seeking the party's nomination but he has
pursued an endorsement from the third party.

"Camejo shares my concerns for economic and social justice as well as
the urgent need to protect our environment," Nader said in a
statement before introducing him at an afternoon news conference.

One Green Party leader said a Nader-Camejo ticket would have a very
strong chance of winning the party's endorsement.

"This is an opportunity for Nader to make an overture to the party
membership," said Ben Manski, one of five co-chairs of the Green
Party. "I think it certainly would put him much more in the running
but not a guarantee."

Nader also has been endorsed by the national Reform Party, which
gives him access to the ballot in at least seven states, including
the battlegrounds of Florida and Michigan.

Nader garnered nearly 3% of the vote in 2000, when he was viewed by
many as having cost Democrat Al Gore the White House by taking votes
in the deciding state of Florida. But he chose not to run under the
party banner this election year.

Camejo received more than 212,000 votes as the Green Party candidate
for California governor during the 2003 recall drive that led to the
ouster of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and the election of actor Arnold
Schwarzenegger.

Nader was polling about 6% nationally, according to a recent
Associated Press poll conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs.

The Green Party has ballot access for a presidential candidate in
Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii,
Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi,
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina,
Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.