by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Jacksonville has been a stop for both Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama on the presidential campaign trail, but with a week to go until election day, it was the stop for another presidential candidate Tuesday.
Ralph Nader, Florida Ecology Party presidential candidate, held a press conference at the Main Library to discuss the platform of the Nader-Gonzalez ticket while comparing it to the platforms of his opponents.
He arrived in Florida Tuesday and stopped by Jacksonville on his way to rallies in both Gainesville and Tampa. He will be departing the state Wednesday.
At his 30-minute conference at the Main Library, Nader began with the hottest issue of them all: the economic crisis and subsequent bailout of Wall Street.
Nader is against the idea as it was proposed.
“It reminds me of how we’ve come full circle as a county ... from 13 colonies under one king to now 50 states under one king,” he said. “It’s taxation without representation.”
Other national issues Nader focused on included his belief in full Medicare for all; the need for reduction in “the bloated, wasteful military budget” with funds being reallocated to things such as infrastructure and education; and a crackdown on corporate crime.
He also touched on some local Florida issues he disagrees with such as advanced billing for proposed nuclear power plants (calling the move to nuclear power “insane”), removal of the Hometown Democracy on the Florida ballot for 2008 and the “stampede” toward approval of offshore drilling.
“Consumer groups and consumers need to rise up and fight,” he said.
The lawyer and consumer advocate has run for president four previous times — twice as a Green Party candidate in 1996 and 2000 and twice as an independent candidate in 2004 and 2008. Nader believes his support will be much stronger this election year than last due to strenuous legal battles in various states regarding ballot access laws. He is currently on the ballot in 45 states.
One of the biggest detriments to his campaigns, he said, has been the lack of exposure due to exclusion from the presidential debates — events that get a voice out to millions of voters — and will continue to fight for third-party candidates to receive the same treatment afforded to the Republican and Democratic parties.
Nader said he believes the upcoming election will result in Obama being elected in the biggest landslide since Ronald Reagan beat incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980.
Even though third party-candidates have never fared extremely well in a presidential election — the most being 27.4 percent of the popular vote and 88 electoral votes by Theodore Roosevelt of the Progressive Party in 1912 — Nader is still optimistic.
“It will be much better than 2004,” he said. “I’ve been up against overwhelming odds before. Stay tuned.”
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