No funny jokes … ok? :mad:
Nader picks Green running mate
US presidential hopeful Ralph Nader has selected Green Party campaigner Peter Camejo as his running mate.
The move is likely to help Mr Nader, an independent candidate, win the backing of the Green Party as it begins its convention this week.
Mr Nader, a Green Party candidate in the 2000 presidential election, is seeking the party’s backing rather than a formal nomination.
Support from the Green Party would put his name on ballots across 20 states.
News of the decision came as a US media poll suggested Americans rate Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry level with George Bush in his ability to fight terrorism, narrowing the gap between the two.
The poll, for ABC News and The Washington Post, also indicated that approval of Mr Bush’s handling of the war on terror had fallen below 50%, losing eight points in the last month.
Swing states
Ralph Nader is the man accused by many Democrats of handing the presidency to George W Bush in November 2000.
Then, nearly three million Americans - more than 2% of the vote - backed the anti-establishment consumer champion.
But Mr Nader’s impact on the November 2004 election will largely depend on the closeness of the vote.
Democrats fear that with the US a deeply and evenly divided country, only 10 swing states could decide the presidency.
Mr Nader said he had chosen Green Party activist Mr Camejo to run with him because he was a man who had put his principles into practice.
“He recognised the disparity of treatment between the rich and poor in the US as well as the negative impact of corporate control of our government on our environment, heath care, working conditions, democracy and culture,” Mr Nader said.
Born in New York to Venezuelan parents, Mr Camejo is president of an investment firm called Progressive Assets Management.
He polled more than 21,000 votes, or 2.8 percent, of the recall vote in California which ousted governor Gray Davis and elected Arnold Schwarzenegger and has been one of the leading contenders for the Green Party’s presidential nomination.