2008 Presidential Campaign Blog

Ralph Nader For President 2008 Rally At The University Of Minnesota Friday, October 31st

RALPH NADER TO HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE AND RALLY IN MINNEAPOLIS, MN FRIDAY, OCT 31

On Friday, October 31 at 6:30 p.m., consumer advocate and independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader will hold a press conference at 220 Blegan Hall, 269 19th Ave. South followed by a 7 p.m. rally at the University of Minnesota, Willey Hall- Room 175, 225. Mr. Nader will speak on a variety of topics including the economic crisis, the fraudulent Commission on Presidential Debates which excludes alternative voices from participating, and other pressing issues especially pertinent to Minnesota residents.

The Nader/Gonzalez campaign opposes the use of public money to construct sports facilities like the new Twins’ Baseball stadium in Hennepin County. The facility will cost $522 million with 75% of the total ($392 million) paid by taxpayers via a sales tax increase (0.15% in Hennepin County and 0.5% in Minneapolis proper). Although a 1997 law requires local sales tax increases to be approved by the public through referendum, an exemption was granted by the legislature without public vote due to the "time critical nature" of stadium’s construction (the Twins’ lease at the Metrodome was on the verge of expiration and management had indicated they would move the team without a new stadium).

The Nader/Gonzalez campaign also opposes the use of coal power and supports the development of sustainable energies including solar and wind. That is why the Nader/Gonzalez campaign stands staunchly against the proposed $1.6 billion Big Stone II 600 MW coal plant that will drain 3.2 billion gallons of water from the Minnesota River, and emit 4.7 million metric tons of greenhouse gases every year. For a region in the sweet spot of America’s wind belt, and an increasingly carbon constrained world, it doesn’t make sense for Minnesotans to make long-term and hefty financial commitments to yesterday’s dirty way of producing electricity in, even in nearby states. There is no such thing as clean coal. That is the imagination of the Coal Institute.

Mr. Nader will also speak on the significance of a recent poll conducted in August by Minnesota Public Radio that found that 77 percent of  the state’s likely voters say they would consider voting for an independent or third-party candidate. This astounding figure highlights the publics dissatisfaction and distrust with the two-party duopoly and its stranglehold on the American political system. Mr. Nader will highlight the crucial role of independent and third-party candidates in American history and the tremendous accomplishments they’ve achieved in their struggles to end slavery and give women the right to vote.

Mr. Nader will also address other critical issues the major party candidates have taken "off the table" that the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign has put on the table, including:

- a comprehensive, six-month negotiated military and corporate withdrawal date from Iraq;
- a single-payer, private delivery, free-choice public health insurance system for all;
- a living wage and repeal of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act;
- a no-nuke, solar-based energy policy supported by renewable, sustainable, energy-efficient sources;
- a carbon tax to deter global warming and a Wall Street securities derivatives tax to pay for the Washington bailout of Wall Street;
- an end to the corporate welfare and corporate crime waves that have resulted in millions losing pensions, savings and jobs and squandered tax dollars;
- a major public works jobs program to repair America’s schools, clinics, public transit, bridges, drinking water & sewage treatment systems paid for by reducing the bloated, wasteful military budget and ending corporate subsidies; and,
- more direct democracy reflecting the preamble to our constitution which starts with "we the people," and not "we the corporations."

About Ralph Nader
Attorney, author, and consumer advocate Ralph Nader has been named by Time Magazine one of the "100 Most Influential Americans in the 20th Century." For more than four decades he has exposed problems and organized millions of citizens into more than 100 public interest groups advocating solutions. He led the movement to establish the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and was instrumental in enacting the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and countless other pieces of important consumer legislation. Because of Ralph Nader we drive safer cars, eat healthier food, breathe better air, drink cleaner water, and work in safer environments. Nader graduated from Princeton University and received an LL.B from Harvard Law School.

About the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign
The Nader/Gonzalez independent presidential candidacy will be on the ballot in 45 states, is polling at 5-6 percent nationally, and despite being excluded from the presidential debates,* a recent Time/CNN poll shows Ralph Nader polling 8 percent in New Mexico, 7 percent in Colorado, 7 percent in Pennsylvania, and 6 percent in Nevada — all key battleground states.

Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader To Hold Halloween Night Costume Party In Minnesota

Halloween Night Costume Party with Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader

715 Hennepin Avenue South
(Located between 7th and 8th Street on Hennepin)
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403

Friday October 31, 2008
8:30pm

Costumes, Drinks, Hors d'oeuvres

Guest Minimum Contribution:
$100 per person with costume
$150 per person without costume

“Pennies” Shows Clinton Campaign’s Gas Tax Gimmick Won’t Pay Off for Hoosiers

“Pennies” Shows Clinton Campaign’s Gas Tax Gimmick Won’t Pay Off for Hoosiers

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana families are feeling pain the pain of high gas prices. The Clinton campaign’s response is a “gas tax holiday” proposal even its own aides say won’t work, a plan they admit helps score political points. Worse yet, the Clinton campaign is attacking U.S. Sen. Barack Obama in a TV ad for refusing to embrace this election-year gimmick.

A new 30-second TV spot, “Pennies,” highlights the criticism Hillary Clinton’s gas tax plan has received from policy experts, a proposal described by USA Today as “political pandering.” The spot tells Hoosiers what Obama plans to do to help drive down gas prices and provide relief to consumers over the long term, proposals that include investigating oil companies for price gouging, taxing their windfall profits and giving working families a permanent $1,000 tax cut to help offset rising gas costs. 

“Pennies” :30 seconds

“Another negative ad from Hillary Clinton.

“But here’s what she's NOT saying.

“USA Today calls her three-month gas tax holiday "political pandering."  It’s an election year-gimmick, saving Hoosiers just pennies a day.

“Barack Obama's plan?  Take on price-gouging by oil companies.  Tax their windfall profits.  Invest in alternative energy. Give working families a permanent, thousand-dollar tax cut to help with rising costs.

“That's change we can believe in.

“I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message.”

Matt Gonzalez is Nader’s Vice Presidential Running Mate

Matt Gonzalez is Nader’s Vice Presidential Running Mate

In 2000, Gonzalez was elected to the 11 member San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which supervises a city with a budget of $6 billion. He became President of the Board three years later.

Gonzalez worked as a deputy public defender in San Francisco from 1991 2000, developing extensive trial experience.

Gonzalez is a 1987 graduate of Columbia University and a 1990 graduate of Stanford Law School.

At a press conference in Washington, D.C., Nader said that he first met Mr. Gonzalez during an anti-Iraq war speaking tour in California.

“I found him to be unwavering in his principles and committed to his politics with clear eloquence and humane logic,” Nader said. “I wanted someone who served in government and who knows what kind of challenges our cities face and who has a record of accomplishment in areas such as election reform, criminal justice, and the creation of the highest minimum wage in the country.”

“He profoundly understands that what we are trying to do is make this a better, stonger democracy,” Nader said. “We're both honored to be running together and look forward to addressing issues, conditions, and solutions ignored by the other major party candidates.”

Nader said that he chose Gonzalez because he “wanted someone who shares my sense of justice and opposition to the corporate state control over our society.”

“I wanted someone who is ready and able to stand up and fight the good fight,” Nader said. “I chose Matt Gonzalez because he's demonstrated – through his legal, civic, and political career – his steadfast commitment to the values and directions that have characterized my work and hopes for our country and its role in the world.”

Nader Launches Presidential Bid On NBC’s Meet The Press With Tim Russert

Nader Launches Presidential Bid

Washington, D.C. – Ralph Nader today threw his hat into the 2008 Presidential ring.

Nader announced his candidacy on NBC’s Meet the Press with Tim Russert.

At the same time, the Nader campaign launched a web site – votenader.org.

The campaign web site highlights twelve fundamental differences between the Nader campaign and the corporate Republicans and corporate Democrats.

In a letter posted on the campaign web site this morning, titled Civics Test, a group of Nader supporters ask:

“Of the following Presidential candidates – Ralph Nader, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain – which one supports a single payer, Canadian style, free choice, Medicare for all health care system?

Answer: Ralph Nader

Which one supports solar energy and would take nuclear power off the table?

Answer: Ralph Nader

Which one would cut the huge bloated wasteful military budget?

Answer: Ralph Nader

Which one would reverse U.S. Middle East policy in Israel/Palestine, Iraq and Iran?

Answer: Ralph Nader

Which one would launch an aggressive crackdown on corporate crime and corporate welfare?

Answer: Again, only Ralph Nader.”

A separate letter, titled “Mr Frugal,” agrees that Hillary Clinton’s campaign spending $3.8 million in January on one consultant alone was “stunning.”

“Give our candidate – we call him Mr. Frugal – $3.8 million and he’ll get us on the ballot all across this country,” the letter reads.

The web site encourages people to join a Road Trip for Ralph – where volunteers will travel the country, getting Nader on the ballot in all fifty states.

On Meet the Press, Nader said that “dissent is the mother of assent.”

Nader said people are feeling “locked out, shut out, marginalized and disrespected.”

“You go from Iraq, to Palestine to Israel, from Enron to Wall Street, from Katrina to the bumbling of the Bush administration, to the complicity of the Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax cuts (for the wealthy).”

“In that context, I have decided to run for president,” Nader told Russert.

Nader called Obama “the first liberal evangelist in a long time.”

But Nader said that Obama is censoring his better instincts.

“Senator Obama’s record has not been a challenging one,” Nader said. “He’s not been a Senator Wellstone or Senator Abourezk or Senator Metzenbaum by any means. He has leaned, if anything, more toward the pro-corporate side of policymaking. The issue is – do they have the moral courage? Do they have the fortitude to stand up against the corporate powers and get things done? Yes, get things done for the American people?”