After the tremendous success of the effort to put the SWP slate on the New York state ballot (see article above), the party campaign committee is finalizing plans for ballot drives in Washington, D.C., Minnesota, Wisconsin, Delaware, and Nebraska. Campaigners are targeting 15 states and the District of Columbia for ballot status for the presidential ticket in 2004. This is the party’s most ambitious presidential ballot push since 1992.

A rapid collection of all the pledges to the special Campaign Appeal—which was launched mid-June at the conclusion of the SWP convention at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio—is necessary to pay for travel expenses and for the cost of fielding the teams necessary to complete the ballot drives by mid-August and use them as the launching pad for effective campaigning to get the message of the party out and recruit. The next 10 days are decisive in realizing the potential for contributions among campaign supporters.

As this issue of the Militant goes to press, $51,250 has been pledged to the fund, which runs until August 1. A total of $21,147 has been collected to date.

As the article above shows, the SWP campaign got a serious response from thousands of New Yorkers. “We are finding on street corner after street corner real interest in what we have to say,” said Róger Calero, the party’s presidential candidate. “And we are going to get a similar response in the next states where we will be petitioning and speaking at campaign events.

“The resistance of meat packers to the employers offensive in this country has been centered in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ” Calero continued. “Having our campaign on the ballot in those states will give workers and farmers a real alternative to the Democrats and Republicans, the twin parties of capitalism.”

Please write your checks to the Socialist Workers National Campaign Committee and send them to the same at P.O. Box 42651, Philadelphia, PA 19101.

Norton Sandler is the Socialist Workers national campaign director.
 
 
Related articles:
Socialist Workers ballot drive in New York is ‘stunning success’: 28,000 sign in 12 days  
 
 
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