WASHINGTON – Independent Ralph Nader, reviled by some Democrats for his presidential bid, was endorsed Wednesday by the national Reform Party, giving him ballot access in at least seven states, including the battlegrounds of Florida and Michigan.
Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese said the candidate welcomes the support but plans to continue running as an independent. He said Nader would decide on a case-by-case basis whether to accept the Reform Party’s ballot lines in each state, or try to gain ballot access through other means.
Nader said he is counting on Reform Party members to help him get on the ballot in other states. “We’ll get a greater get-out-the-vote drive – there are tens of thousands of Reform Party people in California alone,” he said.
Nader won the Reform Party endorsement shortly after midnight Tuesday, when more than two-thirds of its national and executive committee members who participated in the vote chose the consumer advocate, said party chairman Shawn O’Hara, who called Nader “a man of peace.”
The prospect of Nader appearing on Florida’s ballot is certain to incense many Democrats, who blame Nader for pulling votes from Democrat Al Gore in 2000. Gore lost Florida – and the presidency – to Republican George W. Bush by fewer than 600 votes, while Nader garnered nearly 100,000 votes there as the Green Party’s nominee.
Other states in which the Reform Party has already secured ballot access for its nominee are Colorado, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana and South Carolina.
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