Nader/Camejo on C-SPAN

[I haven't seen this yet.  Did anyone see the weak response by The Nation
to Camejo's letter to the editor?  Classic.]

Nader/Camejo on C-SPAN:
http://www.c-span.org/?Cat=Current_Event&Code=Vote_2004&Rot_Cat_CD=Vote_2004

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LA Times, June 22, 2004

THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Nader Selects Camejo as His Running Mate
The Green Party activist, who ran for California governor, may help win
a crucial endorsement.

By Nick Anderson and Susannah Rosenblatt, Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON -- Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader named Green
Party activist Peter Camejo as his vice presidential running mate
Monday, adding to his ticket a two-time contender for governor in
California who once ran for president as a Socialist.

Nader's selection of Camejo gives further shape to a left-leaning,
antiwar campaign many Democrats fear will spoil their effort to unseat
President Bush.

It bolstered Nader's quest to win an endorsement from the Greens at
their national convention, which begins Wednesday in Milwaukee. If Nader
succeeds, he could win ballot access in 22 states -- including California
-- and the District of Columbia.

Camejo also improves Nader's access to an important constituency. A
fluent Spanish speaker of Venezuelan descent, Camejo plans to campaign
vigorously for Latino votes coveted by Democrats and Republicans.

For all those reasons, many Democrats were unsettled by the emergence of
a Nader-Camejo ticket.

"If there was any question in the minds of Democrats whether or not
Ralph Nader could be a factor in the upcoming election, today's
announcement should make that answer crystal clear," said Tricia
Enright, a Democrat who is leading a group seeking to woo Nader
supporters to vote for Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry.

"This should serve as a wake-up call to progressives and Democrats that
the stakes are too high," said Enright, president of TheNaderFactor.com.

Nader, who introduced his running mate at a news conference here,
praised Camejo as an activist who fought racial discrimination in the
South in the 1960s, rallied for farmworkers and opposed the Vietnam War.

"He's put his feet in a lot of marches," Nader said. "He broadens our
range. He stands to communicate very well with the Latino community and
African American community."

Camejo, 64, who lives in Folsom, Calif., is chairman of Progressive
Asset Management, which specializes in "socially responsible investing."
He served three years as a trustee for the Contra Costa County Employee
Retirement Assn.

In 1976, he ran for president as the candidate of the Socialist Workers
Party and collected about 90,000 votes nationwide. He did better in 2002
as the Green Party nominee for governor of California, winning about
393,000 votes statewide, or 5.3%.

Last year, he offered himself as a replacement for California Gov. Gray
Davis in the recall election won by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Camejo debated Schwarzenegger and other candidates on television,
gaining exposure as an advocate for the Green platform, which aims to
tax the rich, ease the burden for the average worker, develop renewable
energy and give marriage rights to gays and lesbians. He won 242,000
votes, or about 2.8%.

On Monday, Camejo joined in Nader's complaints about the "two-party
duopoly."

He called Kerry "a guy who will come in and set it up for the Bushes to
come back -- because the Democrats never challenge the underlying
premises of what the Republicans are doing."

Camejo said he fervently opposed the Iraq war and the anti-terrorism law
known as the Patriot Act, and he noted that Kerry supported both when
they came to a vote in the Senate.

On Iraq, "Kerry's criticisms of Bush are how he's doing his policy, not
what he's doing," Camejo said. "He's not challenging the idea that it
was wrong to invade a nation, in violation of international law, on
false premises."

In May, Kerry met face-to-face with Nader at the Massachusetts senator's
headquarters in Washington. Kerry reminded Nader that the two were on
the same side of many issues.

Asked Monday for reaction to Nader's announcement, Kerry campaign
spokesman Phil Singer said, "Sen. Kerry's going to continue talking
about making America stronger at home and respected in the world."

Camejo plans to go to Milwaukee this week to spread Nader's message at
the Green Party convention.

Nader ran for president as the Green Party nominee in 1996 and 2000,
taking enough votes away from Democrat Al Gore in key states four years
ago to help tip the presidency to Bush. But this time he is keeping the
Green Party at arm's length, as a third-party independent seeking an
endorsement, not a nomination.

Some Greens would prefer to nominate California attorney David Cobb for
president. As a compromise, Camejo suggests the party endorse Cobb and
Nader. Unlike Nader, Cobb has indicated he would try to steer clear of
several battleground states where he might draw critical votes away from
Kerry.

Camejo was one of the original Green Party members when the organization
first registered in 1991. Cobb joined the party in 1996 during Nader's
first presidential run as a Green.

"Peter Camejo is a great Green Party leader, that's for sure," Cobb said
in response to the Nader-Camejo announcement. But he declined to
speculate on what effect the new ticket would have on the Green Party
convention.

So far, Nader has access to seven state ballots through the Reform
Party, though he has not decided whether to use that option. Those
states include Florida, Michigan and Colorado, all sharply contested by
Kerry and Bush. Nader has also submitted petitions to get on the ballot
directly in Texas and Arizona, and was expected to do so Monday in
Illinois.

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