Nader Selects Camejo

[Guest Green]

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader selected longtime Green Party activist Peter Camejo to be his running mate on Monday, a move sure to boost his chances of winning the Green Party's endorsement this week and its access to ballots in 22 states and the District of Columbia.

 

Camejo, an investment adviser from Folsom, Calif., had been one of two leading contenders for the Green Party's presidential nomination.

 

The announcement came before the Green Party convention beginning Wednesday in Milwaukee. Nader, who ran as the Green Party candidate in 2000, is not seeking the party's nomination but has pursued an endorsement from the party.

 

Nader also has been endorsed by the national Reform Party, which gives him access to the ballot in at least seven states, including the battlegrounds of Michigan and Florida.

 

Nader garnered nearly 3 percent of the vote in 2000, when he was viewed by many as having cost Democrat Al Gore the White House by taking votes in the deciding state of Florida. But he chose not to run under the Green Party banner this election year.

 

Camejo received more than 212,000 votes as the Green Party candidate for California governor during the 2003 recall that led to the ouster of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and the election of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

CAMPAIGN SPENDING: John Kerry's campaign spent significantly more last month than President George W. Bush's re-election effort, keeping up pressure on the U.S. senator from Massachusetts to raise record amounts of money in the weeks leading up to the Democratic National Convention in late July.

 

Kerry spent $32 million in May, compared with Bush's $22 million. So far the two candidates have spent a combined $272.5 million, about half of which has paid for advertising.

 

Although Kerry has shown significant fund-raising prowess, he still has much less cash in the bank than Bush, his latest disclosure report shows. Heading into June, Kerry had $28 million on hand compared with $63 million for the president.

 

FUNDING RESEARCH: Forty-eight Nobel laureates denounced Bush on Monday for "compromising our future" when it comes to scientific research and the environment, and said Kerry "will restore science to its appropriate place in government."