The Hartford Courant reported April 3 that Nader, who is running as an independent, had “met and exchanged letters with third-party officials to negotiate what he says is a pragmatic strategy that would help him gain access to all 50 ballots.” Where Nader’s supporters are unable to get him on state ballots, wrote reporter Janice D’Arcy, Nader will try a variety of tactics. In some states he will identify himself as the candidate of his newly formed Populist Party, while in others he will gain the endorsement of third parties. “I would still be an independent candidate, I would just appear on their ballot lines,” he said.

Nader has emphasized that he will accept the two parties’ nomination on a state-by-state basis only. The Green Party has ballot status in 23 states and the Reform Party in seven.

Reform Party chairman Shawn O’Hara told the April 18 Los Angeles Times that the party would probably name Nader as their candidate in several states. “We have a terrific bond with Ralph,” he said. O’Hara said Reform leaders and Nader had explored common ground on “non-social” issues.

The Reform Party was founded in 1992 as a vehicle for the presidential ambitions of Ross Perot, a rightist billionaire businessman. Presenting himself as a strong man and uncorrupted candidate who would confront the “elite,” Perot called for massive cuts to social spending and made a particular appeal to Special Forces in the military.

Eight years later, ultrarightist politician Patrick Buchanan pushed Perot’s supporters aside and carried out a takeover of the party for his 2000 presidential election bid. Following his setback in that election campaign, the ultrarightist pulled away from the party again.

Nader said that he is proposing nothing more than a tactical alliance with the Reform Party. “We’re talking two or three states,” he said in early April. “It’s no compromise of any principles.”

Last February, Nader paid tribute to Perot’s “undeniable patriotism,” asking him to speak out in opposition to the ballooning federal budget deficit. “Ross Perot is exceptionally credible on federal deficits,” he said. The businessman had “made the issue a core of his campaign in 1992,” he added, avoiding mention of Perot’s proposals to slash social welfare entitlements.

Nader has also met with leaders of the Green Party, which nominated him as its candidate in the last two presidential races. The Courant noted the potential clash between Reform and the Greens over immigration policy and other issues. “We are sick and tired of this country being flooded by immigrants,” O’Hara of the Reform Party told the paper. The Green Party’s platform states, “We must accept the contributions and rights of our immigrants.”

The paper reported that Nader has stayed away from such potential conflicts, saying that he agrees with “most points on both platforms.” Nader’s own platform focuses heavily on the so-called independent character of his campaign and contains many denunciations of “corporate rule and its expanding domination.”

On April 19 Nader said the “U.S. should withdraw from Iraq” after the formation of an “international peace-keeping force” there under the auspices of the United Nations. “Ralph Nader is a respected voice that will be listened to and get a hearing” on these issues, said Green Party leader Peter Camejo. Camejo has been mentioned as a possible running mate for Nader, said the Los Angeles Times.

The Washington Post reported that at the Green Party’s national meeting last July delegates debated inconclusively on whether to run the strongest possible campaign in every state, to run only in those states where the vote for Nader would not threaten the Democratic candidate with loss of electoral votes, or to throw the party’s support to the Democratic Party nominee.

Democratic Party spokespeople point to Nader as a substantial factor in the loss of their candidate, Albert Gore, to Republican George Bush in the 2000 election. Nader, who presented his campaign as a “pull to the left” for the Democratic Party, was on the ballot in 43 states and received almost 3 million votes—2.7 percent of the total.

Howard Dean, who contested for the Democratic nomination, told a Portland radio station that he considered a vote for Nader a vote for Bush. “I’m trying to convince people that a vote for [party candidate] John Kerry is much more sensible,” Dean said.

Elijah Cummings, chairman of the Democrat-dominated Congressional Black Caucus, said the group would seek a meeting with Nader to plead with him to drop out of the presidential race.  
 
 
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