Friday, July 02, 2004
Glorious news: Nader has conceded in his efforts to get on the Arizona ballot.
Naturally, Saint Ralph is whining about interference from the Kerry campaign, never mind the fact that Kerry hasn't said anything one way or another about the Arizona ballot issue. And about the wide variance between state-level ballot requirements (It's called federalism - look it up). Or that bigtime politics does involve court challenges and legal decisions - if you want to play with the bigs, don't expect them to pitch you softballs. And don't cry if the pitches come in too fast.
Frankly, I'm surprised that Nader couldn't manage to get on the ballot, since he had plenty of Republicans signing petitions for him and his petition campaign in AZ had financial support from a prominent local Republican. It's a shame that this case was resolved so quickly, since it would have been interesting to find out where his funds were coming from.
For once, Nader could consider blaming himself for his poor showing in Arizona. His effort to gather signatures was decidedly half-assed, coasting on the use of some dubious right-wing allies. Since he scorned the Green Party, he denied himself a viable party organization that might have made the petition process easy (finding 14,000 voters or even liberals who think Nader should be on the ballot shouldn't be that hard, even in Arizona). Also, it just seems clear that he's gone about this in an ad hoc way. His candidacy was declared almost a year after the basic Democratic primary contenders had made their intentions clear. Does he think he can shake and bake an effective organization overnight?
His efforts in other states - see this piece on Nader's minimal appeal in Arkansas - promise to be equally half-assed. He also failed to get on the Indiana ballot - which probably wouldn't affect Kerry (a May poll found Kerry trailing Bush in the Hoosier state 54-33) - but also testifies to his organizational weakness. Indiana requires around 29,000 signatures and it does still have some liberal urban pockets where getting those wouldn't be too hard.
But introspection is not one of Nader's virtues. If it were, he wouldn't even be running. Perhaps he'll make it on the ballot elsewhere, but this promises to be an entertaining spectacle.
Naturally, Saint Ralph is whining about interference from the Kerry campaign, never mind the fact that Kerry hasn't said anything one way or another about the Arizona ballot issue. And about the wide variance between state-level ballot requirements (It's called federalism - look it up). Or that bigtime politics does involve court challenges and legal decisions - if you want to play with the bigs, don't expect them to pitch you softballs. And don't cry if the pitches come in too fast.
Frankly, I'm surprised that Nader couldn't manage to get on the ballot, since he had plenty of Republicans signing petitions for him and his petition campaign in AZ had financial support from a prominent local Republican. It's a shame that this case was resolved so quickly, since it would have been interesting to find out where his funds were coming from.
For once, Nader could consider blaming himself for his poor showing in Arizona. His effort to gather signatures was decidedly half-assed, coasting on the use of some dubious right-wing allies. Since he scorned the Green Party, he denied himself a viable party organization that might have made the petition process easy (finding 14,000 voters or even liberals who think Nader should be on the ballot shouldn't be that hard, even in Arizona). Also, it just seems clear that he's gone about this in an ad hoc way. His candidacy was declared almost a year after the basic Democratic primary contenders had made their intentions clear. Does he think he can shake and bake an effective organization overnight?
His efforts in other states - see this piece on Nader's minimal appeal in Arkansas - promise to be equally half-assed. He also failed to get on the Indiana ballot - which probably wouldn't affect Kerry (a May poll found Kerry trailing Bush in the Hoosier state 54-33) - but also testifies to his organizational weakness. Indiana requires around 29,000 signatures and it does still have some liberal urban pockets where getting those wouldn't be too hard.
But introspection is not one of Nader's virtues. If it were, he wouldn't even be running. Perhaps he'll make it on the ballot elsewhere, but this promises to be an entertaining spectacle.
