It seems that Ralph Nader will be on the ballot in November, thanks to a 6-1 decision Friday evening by the Florida Supreme Court. Nader, the former consumer advocate who ran on the Green Party ticket four years ago, will run in Florida under the banner of the Reform Party. Yes, the same party which originally brought us H. Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan's presidential campaigns.

Let's really look at this Reform Party...

The Orlando Sentinel's Mike Thomas wrote a really good column today which deals with the whole issue of getting on the ballot in Florida, and with a basic look at the Reform Party's history after Perot's ill-fated race for the White House. Their actual "nominating convention" was in reality a telephone conference call, and the meeting at a Dallas-area hotel was held simply to affirm the decision which had already been made previously.

According to this Associated Press story from August the Reform Party's own national treasurer requested that the Federal Elections Commission terminate it's fundraising authorization stating that it only had $18.18 in the bank and contending that national party leaders failed to build the organization or to foster "philosophical alignment among members and candidates." Needless to say, he was immediately suspended as treasurer.

The Reform Party USA's headquarters --- so as it is --- is located in the west part of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Shawn O'Hara, who has run for Governor three times as well as several other offices --- all failing attempts --- is a real estate mogul who has worked to defend former Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard Samuel Bowers, who is accused in the murder of civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer. Having grown up in that area, I know the case fairly well.

Vernon Dahmer and his family lived in northern Forrest County near Hattiesburg, and he helped African-American citizens pay their poll taxes at his grocery so they could register to vote. Of course, the KKK at that time didn't appreciate such activitism by "those folks", and firebombed his home, killing Mr. Dahmer.

One of O'Hara's promises during at least one of his campaigns for governor was to pardon the former KKK Imperial Wizard

But you want another tie between this attempt to get Nader on the ballot and helping George W. Bush back in the White House in November? Check out this quote from a story which ran in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on July 12 if you don't want to read the entire piece (it's near the end of the story):

Some of Nader's admirers are also befuddled by his alliance with the Reform Party, which backed Pat Buchanan in 2000.

The chairman of the Reform Party, Shawn O'Hara, voted for Bush in 2000 and says if Nader were to tilt the election one way or another, he would prefer if Bush is re-elected.

While O'Hara says Bush "has lied to the American public" about what he calls the "illegal war in Iraq," he is far more dismissive of Kerry.

"I'm not a George Bush fan anymore. My man's Ralph Nader," O'Hara said. But, he added, "I'm doing everything I can to make sure John Kerry never gets around the White House."