And here are some excerpts from a second article at Common Dreams today, this republished from Knight Ridder:

Published on Tuesday, March 9, 2004 by Knight-Ridder
Green, Reform Parties May Both Tap Nader
by Maria Recio

WASHINGTON - Q: Ralph Nader, who is running for president as an independent, will be listed on the ballot in November as:

a) the Reform Party candidate

b) the Green Party candidate

c) an independent

d) all of the above.

The answer is likely to be "d." Nader has made it clear that he will use whatever tactic helps him get on state ballots, and he has lots of options.

In 2000, Nader was the Green Party candidate and won 2.7 percent of the popular vote while on the ballot in only 43 states. In Florida and New Hampshire, if only a small number of Nader voters had gone to Democrat Al Gore, he would have defeated Republican George W. Bush. Democrats fear a repeat this year.

An Associated Press poll released Friday put Nader's support at 6 percent nationally, with Democratic candidate John Kerry in a virtual tie with Bush. The poll, taken March 1-3, was of 771 registered voters and had an error margin of 3.5 percentage points.

Nader's independent, anti-corporate, populist campaign starts its uphill effort to get on the ballot in all 50 states this week in Texas. And there are signs that he may end up as the nominee of both the Reform Party and the Green Party, which are strange bedfellows ideologically.

Texas has one of the toughest standards for ballot qualification in the nation. Starting Wednesday, any minor candidate has 60 days to get more than 60,000 signatures. Complicating the task is that anyone who votes in Tuesday's Texas primary can't sign the petition.

But it's easier for a third party to get listed on the Texas ballot than an individual; a third party needs only 40,000 voter signatures collected in a 75-day period starting Wednesday. As a result, Nader is engaged in an unlikely flirtation with the Reform Party.