Nader campaign files for ballot in Colorado

Ralph Nader's independent presidential campaign filed for ballot access in Colorado on Thursday, though political onlookers said they expected his impact on the presidential race in the state to be minimal.

Colorado is the fourth state that Nader and his running mate, former Green Party San Francisco mayoral candidate Matt Gonzalez, have filed in.

It's comparatively easy to win presidential ballot access in Colorado: candidates need only submit a $500 fee and statement of intent that includes the names of electors.

In 2004, 12 presidential candidates -- including Nader -- were on the ballot in Colorado.

Jenny Przekwas, Nader's Colorado state coordinator, said she hopes to get Nader's poll numbers up to 6-10 percent in Colorado. Current presidential polling in the state doesn't include Nader.  

"We feel strongly in support of Nader's issues and want other people to have a listen to the issues, to understand his stances on the issues," Przekwas said. "And if they can support what he supports, then we'd like to ask people to vote for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez in November."

Przekwas said there are no current plans to open a Nader field office in Colorado.

Nader has already filed to run in Arizona, Hawaii, and New Mexico.

Colorado State University political science professor John Straayer said while Nader has a core group of supporters in Colorado, he didn't expect the consumer advocate to poll nearly as well as he did in 2000, when he won 2.7 percent of the vote nationwide.

In many Democrats' minds, Nader, running on the Green Party ticket, cost Democratic nominee Al Gore the 2000 election by siphoning votes from Gore in the key state of Florida -- a charge Nader supporters vehemently reject.

Nader's impact eight years later, Straayer predicted, would be "very, very minimal.

"Nader's become kind of an old shoe, and I think he's a little bit worn out in terms of electoral appeal," Straayer said. "And I think a lot of folks, particularly on the Democratic side, have a sense of what his candidacy did in 2000 and aren't anxious to see something like that happen again."

Colorado Green Party Co-Chair Dave Chandler, though, said Nader's entry would "probably" cut into state support for likely Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, a former Democratic Congresswoman from Georgia.

But, Chandler added, "The Naderite faction in the Green Party has diminished clearly since 2000 and there are fewer of them. They caused a little bit of a split in the party four years ago, but we've certainly moved on."