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Nader volunteer Briana Nestler said she and others have gathered more than 1,900 of the 2,000 signatures Nader needs to qualify. She said they hope to gather the maximum allowed of 4,000 before the Sept. 2 deadline to submit the petition.
Nader received 16,390 votes in 2004 out of nearly 3 million cast statewide, or slightly more than half of 1 percentage point. That doesn’t sound like much, but it was more than Democrat John Kerry’s 11,000-vote margin of victory over President Bush in Wisconsin.
The consumer advocate did far better in 2000, winning 3.6 percent of the vote in Wisconsin as the Green Party’s candidate. Democrat Al Gore won the state by less than 6,000 votes that year.
After 2000, many Democrats and some of Nader’s own supporters blamed him for giving the presidency to George W. Bush by siphoning votes away from Gore. The Wisconsin Democratic Party waged a legal campaign to kick Nader off Wisconsin’s ballot in 2004 but the state Supreme Court ultimately ruled in his favor. He ran as an independent that year and is again this election.
Nationwide, Nader’s campaign said he is seeking ballot access in 45 states this fall and has already handed in petitions in 34 of them.
Among those who signed the Nader petition in downtown Madison on Wednesday morning was James Twine, a semiretired computer programmer who supports Republican John McCain for president. He said he hopes Nader takes enough votes from Democrat Barack Obama to give the state to McCain.
“That’s why I want him on the ballot. He’ll drain 1 percent of Obama’s vote. It will be a close election, and that will make a difference,” said Twine, 60. “A lot of foolish people will vote for Ralph Nader. This was a strategic signature.”
Nestler, who voted for Nader in 2000 and 2004, said Obama should be able to win Wisconsin in a landslide regardless of whether Nader’s name is on the ballot, given public discontent with the war in Iraq and President Bush.
She said having Nader in the race could force Obama to take more liberal stands on issues like ending the war in Iraq immediately, mandating universal health care, and protecting consumers from corporate greed.
“The only way the major candidates are going to address these issues is if they are at risk of losing votes,” she said.
Nader, 74, is expected to campaign in Madison on Sept. 5.
