Ralph Nader failed make the Oregon ballot recently when he couldn’t recruit enough voters to attend a nominating convention. He’s trying again this weekend and is getting lots of help with recruitment this time: from the Bush-Cheney Campaign, anti-gay Oregon Family Council, and the anti-government group Citizens for a Sound Economy. Nader’s campaign apparently welcomes the help. The Oregonian reports:
Groups allied with President Bush are encouraging their conservative members to do the seemingly unthinkable: attend a convention Saturday to help put left-leaning independent candidate Ralph Nader on the Oregon presidential ballot.The groups -- with the encouragement of some Republican political operatives -- are telling their members that Nader would draw votes from Democrat Sen. John Kerry and boost Bush's chances of winning Oregon....
Officials from two groups that have been calling members -- the Oregon Family Council and Citizens for a Sound Economy -- said they had no qualms about trying to help Nader despite opposing most of what he stands for.
"We'd like to take a few votes away from John Kerry if it would be possible," said Tim Nashif of the Oregon Family Council, which has been making hundreds of phone calls to members urging them to help get Nader on the ballot....
"Ralph Nader is undoubtedly going to pull some very crucial votes from John Kerry, and that could mean the difference in a razor-thin presidential election," reads a script used by Citizens for a Sound Economy in its phone calls. "Can we count on you to come out on Saturday night and sign the petition to nominate Ralph Nader?"
Portland attorney Greg Kafoury, who heads the Nader campaign in Oregon, said he saw nothing wrong with the Republican outreach efforts.
"It's a free country," he said. "People do things in their own interest."
That’s Ralph Nader for you: the Republican candidate for president.
