Ralph redux

Ralph Nader is back, running for president as an independent challenging corporate power. While his campaign has received little media attention since its February launch, it's gotten a boost recently from left-leaning voters upset over Sen. Barack Obama's recent reversals on telecom immunity and public campaign financing.

Results from a national CNN poll released earlier this month show the longtime consumer and environmental advocate with the support of 6 percent of registered voters, putting him ahead of Libertarian Party candidate and former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, who's running at 3 percent.

That poll gave Obama a narrow 5-point lead over Republican Sen. John McCain in a two-man race. However, the Democrat's lead narrowed to just 3 percent when Nader and Barr were added to the mix.

The Nader campaign is scrambling to make 10 percent in the polls, which would get the candidate into the Google-sponsored debates in New Orleans on Sept. 18.

This marks the 74-year-old Nader's fifth bid for the White House since 1992, when he ran in Massachusetts' Democratic primary and stood as a write-in for "none of the above" in New Hampshire's Democratic and Republican primaries. His running mate this time around is Matt Gonzalez, former president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Nader's Green Party candidacy in 2000 has often been blamed for Al Gore's loss to George W. Bush, though others have argued that the real problem afflicting Gore's campaign was his failure to articulate progressive values. Nader declined to seek the Greens' nomination this year; the current frontrunner for that party's nomination is former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

The Nader/Gonzalez campaign has already handed in the signatures and other paperwork needed to appear on the ballot in eight states: South Carolina, Illinois, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Washington and Hawaii. It's completed signature collection and is waiting to hand in paperwork in Tennessee, Louisiana and Utah.

The campaign is also collecting signatures necessary for a write-in candidacy in North Carolina, which has some of the nation's most restrictive ballot access laws. In an appearance before about 100 people this past Saturday night at St. Mary's School in Raleigh, N.C., Nader blasted the pro-corporate policies of both major parties.

"The more votes we get in November," he said," the more access public interest groups will get in Washington."

While the number of Nader's supporters may be small, they're apparently serious about seeing their candidate challenge the establishment this fall: During the fundraising portion of the Saturday rally, attendees forked over more than $4,700 in donations.

(Photo of Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez from VoteNader.org)