Ralph Nader 2008 presidential campaign

See also: Ralph Nader's presidential campaigns

Ralph Nader for President 2008
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Campaign	U.S. presidential election, 2008
Candidate	Ralph Nader Founder of Public Citizen and progressive activist
Affiliation	independent candidate
Status	Announced February 24, 2008
Headquarters	Washington, DC
Key people	Matt Gonzalez, Running mate
Slogan	People fighting back.
Website
www.votenader.org

Ralph Nader announced his U.S. Presidential candidacy, running as an independent candidate, on February 24, 2008 on NBC's Meet The Press. It was Nader's fifth campaign; he ran in the four election cycles prior to 2008: 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004. The 2008 election was the third in which he had officially run a national campaign. While Nader ran as an independent, in some states he had ballot access with the Independent-Ecology Party, the Natural Law Party, and the Peace and Freedom Party. He received 1% of the national vote, or 656,886 votes [10] .

Pre-announcement

California Presidential primary, Green Party ballot, February 5, 2008, listing "Ralph Nader"

In February 2007, Nader criticized Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton as "a panderer and a flatterer." Asked on CNN Late Edition news program if he would run in 2008, Nader replied, "It's really too early to say...." Asked during a radio appearance to describe the former First Lady, Nader said, "Flatters, panders, coasting, front-runner, looking for a coronation ... She has no political fortitude." Some Greens started a campaign to draft Nader as their party's 2008 presidential candidate. In June 2007, Nader said, "You know the two parties are still converging -- they don't even debate the military budget anymore. I really think there needs to be more competition from outside the two parties." Nader praised Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, and John Edwards during the race for the Democratic nomination.

After the election became a contest between Clinton and Barack Obama, Nader hinted more towards his own presidential bid by participating in the Green Party Presidential Debates in San Francisco on January 13, 2008, though not as an announced candidate. Then he formed a presidential exploratory committee on January 30, 2008, telling CNN he would run again if he could raise the necessary funds.

Before entering the race, Nader was asked by Wolf Blitzer on CNN's The Situation Room if he liked any of the Democratic presidential candidates in 2008, and said "in terms of his record, Dennis Kucinich and in terms of a great Democratic stengthened Democracy proposal, Mike Gravel." A petition was started to urge Nader to run with Mike Gravel as a vice presidential candidate. In the weeks before the Iowa caucus, Nader praised former Senator John Edwards and his populist message, calling him "a Democratic glimmer of hope" and encouraging Iowans to "give him a victory."

Polls

In a Zogby International poll released March 15, 2008, Nader received 6% of the vote in a John McCain-Clinton-Nader race and 5% in a McCain-Obama-Nader race. According to pollster John Zogby, a self-described Democrat, "Nader’s presence in the race can potentially turn a lulu of a race into an absolute tizzy. The messages to Democrats are clear – number one, Nader may win enough support to get into the general election debates. Number two, what could be at risk is support among several key constituencies that the Democratic Party candidate will need to win in November, notably younger voters, independents, and progressives.” However, according to pollster Mark Blumenthal, such an effect is overstated.

A Lansing-based EPIC-MRA poll concluded that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would perform better against Republican John McCain among Michigan voters than Democrat Hillary Clinton. In the poll, taken April 4-9, 2008, presidential candidate Ralph Nader received 10 percent of the vote in the hypothetical McCain-Clinton election. McCain received 46 percent of the vote to Clinton's 37. In the McCain-Obama situation, conversely, Nader received 8 percent, while Obama led McCain 43 to 41 percent, leaving the Obama victory unaffected.

A mid-September 2008 CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll found that Nader has the support of 4 percent of those polled, with Libertarian candidate Bob Barr and Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney each at one percent.

Campaign developments

Nader condemning the Iraq War in 2007

After announcing his run on Meet the Press Nader announced that he had chosen former San Francisco president of the Board of Supervisors and Texas native Matt Gonzalez as his running mate on February 28, 2008. Gonzalez was a supporter of Nader in 2000 and 2004, and has a background as a public defender and civil rights attorney. He narrowly lost the San Francisco mayoral election to Democrat Gavin Newsom in 2003.

While campaigning at his alma mater Princeton University, Nader gave a lecture entitled "The Corporate State and the Destruction of Democracy." He discussed the "political bigotry against third parties" and the lack of limitations on the power of corporations. Nader described his plans for reform, including single-payer national health insurance, cuts to the military budget, crackdowns on corporations, and a repeal of the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act.

On March 9, Nader visited West Chester, Pennsylvania where he talked with the Chester County Historical Society about protection of the "victims" of "corporate crooks". He stated that taxes should be levied first on polluters, gamblers and corporations, and that taxes should be lowered on labor and necessities. He called for a withdrawal of American troops from Iraq criticizing the current presidential candidate's stance on the war, "Children not even born yet today will be in Iraq under these [current] candidates...We will bring our troops home".

Nader campaigning in October, 2008

In April 2008, Nader praised Jimmy Carter's plan to visit the Middle East saying: "It is time for all retired military, diplomatic and national security officials from both parties who agree with Carter — and there are many — to band together and launch the Washington Peace Show leading to what a majority of Palestinians and Israelis want — a viable two-state solution."

Nader was selected as the presidential candidate of the Peace and Freedom Party at its convention on August 2. He received 46 delegate votes (60.7%) defeating Gloria La Riva, Brian Moore and Cynthia McKinney who also vied for the nomination. The distinction gave Nader instant ballot access in California.

In June, Nader accused Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama of trying to "talk white" and appealing to white guilt in the election campaign. Obama said about Nader's criticism, "He's become a perennial political candidate. At this point, he's somebody who's trying to get attention, whose campaign hasn't gotten any traction."

On September 10, 2008, Nader appeared with Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul as well as several other third party candidates for a press conference at the National Press Club to present the four key principles that they all agreed were the most important of the election. Nader and Paul would later that day appear on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer to briefly lay out these principles. Although given little media coverage, Nader campaigned vigorously, even potentially setting a Guiness World Record for most campaign speeches given in one day on October 25, 2008 (21 speeches, 315 minutes).

On October 18, 2008 he and vice-presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez also held a large protest on Wall Street following the passage of the government bailout bill. Nader's opposition to the bailout was a key issue of his candidacy during October of 2008, in contrast to both major party candidates who supported the bill.

Despite being blocked from participating in the nationally televised debates organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates, Nader did participate in two third party debates, most notably with Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr and Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin on October 30, 2008 in Cleveland, Ohio at the City Club of Cleveland.

On November 4, 2008, Ralph Nader issued an open letter to Barack Obama. In a Fox News interview with Shepherd Smith, Mr. Nader further questioned the kind of presidency Barack Obama will engage in. He stated, "To put it very simply," he said, "he is our first African-American president, or he will be. And we wish him well. But his choice, basically, is whether he is going to be Uncle Sam for this country, or Uncle Tom for the giant corporations." Shepherd Smith called Mr. Nader a "spoiler" and "irrelevant." In prior interviews, Mr. Nader referred to notion of "spoiler" as "politically bigoted." Fox News followed the interview by posting the election results, revealing that Ralph Nader had received 1% percent of the popular vote, or 656,670.

Grassroots efforts

The Nader 2008 campaign relied heavily on grassroots organizing. The "Roadtrip for Ralph" effort sent Nader supporters to states to get Nader on the ballot.

Ballot access

By September 18, 2008, Nader and Gonzalez were on the ballot in 45 states with write-in status in four of the five remaining states. For ballot access in most states, the Nader campaign had to circulate nominating petitions, with varying numbers of signatures and deadlines, to get on the ballot. In some states, the requirements for ballot access are lower for new parties than for independents, so Nader attempted to qualify as the candidate of the Independent Party (composed of Nader supporters). Nader qualified for the 2008 New Mexico ballot using the new party procedure, rather than qualifying as an independent, because the number of signatures for a new party is only one-sixth as many signatures. The campaign also turned in petitions in Hawaii, which requires 663 signatures. The Independent Party turned in approximately 2,100.

Endorsements

• Howard Zinn, historian, political scientist, social critic, activist and playwright
• Reporter Chris Hedges
• Musician and poet Patti Smith
• Former U.S. senator James Abourezk
• Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson
• Musician and 2000 Election Green Party candidate Jello Biafra
• Ben Stein, speech-maker, actor, economist, lawyer
• Musician Tom Morello
• Musician Nellie McKay
• Queens of the Stone Age
• Actor William Hurt
• Actor Val Kilmer
• Actress Brooke Smith
• Musician Justin Jeffre of 98 Degrees
• Actor and American Indian activist Russell Means
• Musician Chris #2 of Anti-Flag

See also

• Ralph Nader's presidential campaigns
• Comparison of United States presidential candidates, 2008
• List of candidates in the United States presidential election, 2008
• Third party (United States) presidential candidates, 2008

External links

• Ralph Nader's Official Campaign Website
• Ralph Nader Forums