{news} (Torrington Register) Nader Stays on the Attack in Winsted

[Tim McKee]

http://www.registercitizen.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13612861&BRD=1652&PAG=461&dept_id=12530&rfi=6
 
Nader Stays on the Attack in Winsted 
RICK KLIMANOWSKI, Register Citizen Staff
12/23/2004

    

WINSTED -- A two-party system isn’t real democracy, failed independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader said at a fund-raiser in his hometown Wednesday night, and this year, the Democrats were guilty of attempting to protect a process that is "rigged." 


Nader said Democratic candidate John Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, should have won the election by a landslide. Instead, the Democrats focused on keeping Nader off the ballot in many states.


 
'); } //-->   "Their plan was to get Nader-Camejo off the ballot in any way they could," he said. "We won a majority of the Supreme Court cases, but it drained us."

Many Democrats blame Nader for Al Gore’s defeat in 2000 against Republican George W. Bush, but Nader said there are many "what ifs" that could be argued, many of which could have possibly changed the outcome.

Nader spoke in Winsted -- and will appear again tonight -- to raise money to pay off some of his expenses from the November election campaign.

Hundreds of books are on display at 514 Main St., Winsted, and people can contribute $25 for four books, $50 for 10 books or $100 and you can pick up 20 books. All proceeds will benefit Nader’s campaign expenses. Books include subjects on consumer protection, politics, and even children’s titles are available. Signed copies of Nader’s "Crashing the Party" are available for $75.

Though Nader and running mate Peter Camejo, a California Green Party activist, only gained about 500,000 votes, Nader said his mission was much larger than the Oval Office.

"The whole point is trying to get as many people to see what we are doing so they can do it themselves," Nader told a crowd of about 50 people Wednesday night. 

Nader said he could reach out to many more people doing it as a presidential candidate than fighting for a seat in the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives from Connecticut. 

After his experience attempting to gain ballot access, Nader is focused on election reform.

He’d like to see a uniform system across the 50 states.

In Tennessee, for instance, Nader needed only 350 signatures to get on the presidential ballot. However, in North Carolina he needed 130,000 signatures. 

Calling the system "seriously rigged," Nader also questioned why in a state like Ohio that have areas with large minority populations, the voting stations had people waiting in lines for hours. Areas with large minority populations tend to vote Democrat.

However, in areas that are largely Republican, the lines weren’t nearly as long because many more voting stations were available, he said. People can’t wait in line for 13 hours because they have to go to work, Nader said.

"We should have a federal standard for federal ballot access," he said. "To try and challenge the two parties is like trying to climb a mountain with a very slippery rope."

In addition, Nader is lobbying for public funding of public campaigns and nationwide same-day voter registration.

Nader said many good people shy away from politics because it has become "a dirty word."

"Good people don’t run for office. We are losing a lot of talent at the state, local and national level," Nader said. "It isn’t that they don’t want to debate. They don’t want to spend a lot of time of the controversy."

The fund-raiser continues tonight at 514 Main St., the former Creative Events Art Space. Nader will speak at 7:30 p.m., followed by a question and answer forum. 

Rick Klimanowski can be reached by e-mail at winsted at registercitizen.com. 



©The Register Citizen 2004 








-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/private/ctgp-news/attachments/20041223/40b0fbd5/attachment.html>