By Paul Davenport The Associated Press Friday, July 2, 2004; 1:35 PM
PHOENIX -- Supporters of Ralph Nader on Friday abandoned their effort to get the independent candidate on the presidential ballot in Arizona after Democrats challenged the validity of thousands of signatures.
Nader's campaign had submitted more than 22,000 signatures to Arizona election officials June 9 -- far more than the 14,694 valid signatures required by state law to compete against President Bush and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
Two Democratic voters had filed a lawsuit last week, backed by the Arizona Democratic Party, questioning the validity of Nader's nominating petitions and other documents. The Democrats argued that more than 70 percent of the signatures were invalid.
As a judge prepared to hear arguments in the case, the campaign said a review by the secretary of state's office found that the campaign was about 550 signatures short of the number needed to get on the ballot.
"We withdrew after elections officials came out with us being 550 signatures short," said Nader campaign spokesman Kevin Zeese. "There's no question that deep-pocketed Democrats don't have much of a sense of fair play."
He said the campaign does not have the resources to fight the aggressive legal challenge.
Many Democrats blame Nader, a Green Party candidate four years ago, for taking votes from Democrat Al Gore and helping ensure President Bush's election.
Nader has struggled in some states to collect the thousands of signatures necessary to appear on the ballot as an independent candidate. He suffered a setback last week when the Green Party, which has ballot lines in 22 states and the District of Columbia, declined to endorse him.
Nader as been endorsed by the Reform Party, which has ballot lines in at least seven states.