The Larely Beagle – The Community Newspaper of Larely, California

Washington, D.C. – Despite Barack Obama having already garnered 349 electoral votes, 79 more than are needed to win the presidency, and John McCain having given his succession speech last night, Independent candidate Ralph Nader is holding firm and refusing to concede the election to Obama until all of the absentee ballots have been counted.

While each state in the U.S. has different laws regulating the deadline by which absentee ballots must be counted, most of them require counters to wait a few days after the election to allow overseas ballots to trickle in. Nader is confident that this trickle will be a pro-Nader one, and that he isn’t out of this election just yet.

Speaking from his campaign headquarters in Washington, D.C., Nader said, “I’m not ready to declare this thing over until all the absentee ballots have come in. We’re still waiting on a large packet of ballots from our troops overseas and who knows whether they will put me over the top or not. I know I only received 14 votes from troops stationed overseas in 2004, but polling has showed that I’m tracking well and gaining strength over there.”

Nader and running mate Matt Gonzalez, were very optimistic on the morning of November 4th. They had just received word that a poll conducted by incense company Nag Champa showed Nader as holding a twenty point lead over Senator Obama and a thirty point lead over Senator McCain. Unfortunately, once exit polling began in eastern states, the numbers showed that Obama was out to an early lead in front of McCain, and that Nader was receiving about one percent of the total vote.

The mood slowly turned more somber as the night went on, and supporters gathered at the H Street Red Roof Inn in Washington, D.C. to hear Nader’s acceptance speech were forced to keep waiting. Around 10:30 EST, Nader took to the stage and gave a speech saying that the numbers looked good on the west coast and there was still a chance they would win California, Oregon, and Washington in a west coast sweep. However, those hopes were dashed when those states were all declared for Obama minutes after the polls closed.

The crowd was treated to another bright moment when Senator McCain took the stage and gave his concession speech. Right after the speech was finished, Nader took to his own stage to tell the crowd, “It’s a two man race now! White House, here we come!”

While Nader admits there could be a chance that he won’t win this year’s election, he’s not ready to do or say anything definitive until those absentee ballots are in.