'Nader's payback'

The very liberal Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board is very happy that perennial presidential candidate Ralph Nader has qualified for the Nov. 4 ballot in Pennsylvania.

From today's editorial:

Serves them right, if Democratic leaders in Harrisburg are worried now that independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader has landed on the November ballot.

It was due to the Democrats' successful challenge of Nader's petition signatures in 2004 that the long-time consumer watchdog and political gadfly was tossed off the ballot when John Kerry ran against President Bush.

That alone would be enough to fire up Nader supporters to do the job right this time. That they have done. The campaign this month filed more than twice the number of signatures required to get on the ballot, with Nader officials pledging they were far more careful to avoid bogus signatures.

I wonder how happy the editorial board will be if Nader takes enough votes away from Barack Obama to give John McCain an victory in Pennsylvania.

Read the full editorial at the newspaper's Web site.