As campaigns for November’s presidential elections gather speed, Ralph Nader is working to put his name on the ballot in every state.
Nader, who is running as an independent candidate, will have a nominating convention in Portland on Monday at the Roseland Theater, located at 8 NW 6th Ave. at 6 p.m.
To get Nader on the ballot, 1,000 registered voters must attend the convention and sign the petition. If the number falls short, 15,306 valid signatures will need to be collected, according his campaign Web site, http://www.votenader.org.
Nader last ran for the nation’s top seat in November 2000 on the Green Party ticket. He said he is running again this year because the political system is not responding to the necessities of the American people such as a living wage, universal health care and civil liberties.
“The reason why it is not is largely because the political parties are prisoners of giant
businesses,” he said. He added that the links between big business and government have put a “for sale sign” on politics.
“We have to have a new politics that’s clean, responsive, mobilizes the younger generation, gets more votes out, places before the American people more voices and more choices,” Nader said.
He said his priorities include a change in foreign policy, addressing problems in the healthcare system such as the role of HMOs and consumer protection.
“Right across the board, consumers have been left without redress,” he said.
Responding to some claims that his run for presidency could cost the Democrats the election, Nader said, “No one’s entitled to votes. We all have to earn them.”
He said his aim is to defeat Bush and that he hopes to do so by making the vulnerabilities of the current administration clear. He added that there are current government policies that are of common concern to some liberals, conservatives and independent voters, and these voters are most likely to seek an independent candidate.
However, some Democrats still believe that Nader’s run may not bode well for their party.
“I think it’s a bad idea for the country that he runs,” College Democrats co-Chairman Kevin Curtin said. While Curtin said he admires Nader for his work, he thinks Nader took votes away from Al Gore in the last election, when Nader knew he was not going to win.
Nader would have advanced the causes he cares about more by stepping down and supporting Democratic candidates who share similar concerns, Curtin said
However Timothy Dreier, the editor in chief of the Oregon Commentator, the campus’s conservative journal of opinion, said he had hoped Nader would run.
“It will help Dems not win,” Dreier said. “I think it would help the Democrats get their head out of their ass,” Dreier added. “Help them realize you can’t win on just vitriol. They don’t have positively defined ideas.”
Nader said he believes the Oregon nominating convention will be a success because of the state’s great support in the past. He appealed to students who are registered to vote and are politically active to attend the convention.
“They’ll see politics at work at its best level, at its cleanest level,” Nader said. “They’re going to be the leaders of the country, so they better start preparing themselves.”
Nader believes one of the responsibilities of the education system is to teach students how to help their communities and practice democracy.
“It’s very important that students leave high school and college with citizen skills,” he said.