Buchanan, Nader, Hagelin push for presidential ballot spot

Associated Press, 08/28/00

BOSTON -- Bay State voters who want more of a choice for president won't have much to complain about this year.

In addition to Republican George W. Bush, Democrat Al Gore and Libertarian Harry Browne, voters may also be able to choose consumer advocate Ralph Nader, conservative firebrand Patrick Buchanan or John Hagelin, who is battling Buchanan for the Reform Party nomination.

Supporters for Nader and Buchanan Monday said they turned in more than the 10,000 certified signatures that candidates from parties not recognized by the Massachusetts Secretary of State must collect to get on the November ballot.

The deadline for submitting signatures is Tuesday. Nader supporters said they gathered about 20,000 signatures, twice as many as needed.

To be recognized as an official party, at least one statewide candidate for that party must win at least three percent of the vote in the previous election cycle.

The state currently recognizes three parties: Democratic, Republican and Libertarian.

Buchanan and Hagelin represent different factions of the Reform Party. Buchanan requested that he be identified with the Reform Party on the Massachusetts ballot. Hagelin will receive a "unenrolled" identification.

It will be up to federal election officials to decide who is the Reform Party's true nominee, a spokesman from the secretary of state's office said.

Buchanan claimed the national nomination at the party's Long Beach, Calif., convention, but some disaffected party members walked out and chose Hagelin, who has run for president before under the Natural Law Party banner.