Ralph Nader Press Conference. (live-blog)

Welcome Redditors, DUers and Kossacks.

04:45 PM EST: Ralph Nader (RN) is giving a press conference in about 30 minutes, post a question in this thread, no matter how tough, and as long as it's respectful I'll ask both them.

Carl Romanelli (CR) will also be talking questions. (The guy who accepted Republican Santorum's money to run against Democrat Bob Casey Jr.)

I'm literally in the front row.

I'll update this post every five minutes or so. Hit refresh for the updates.

When the press conference starts, I'll start asking the questions, and posting his reply.

05:08 PM EST: Conference just started. Marakay Rodgers, who ran for governor last term, is be MCing and doing the intro.

05:15 PM EST: Paul Huckleberry said some words - about the Green Party being able to out-organize the Democrats.

05:17 PM EST: Now Paul Titus is saying some words about how Democrats unfairly challenged his petitions for ballot access, thus making him to have a costly fight.

05:20 PM EST: Carl Romanelli (CR) is being introduced.

05:24 PM EST: Says the Green Party said e was forced to used paid petitioner's during his Senate run because of restrictive ballot access laws ... he says there was nothing wrong with that.

05:26 PM EST: Someone just installed new light for the room. It's an improvement - but why didn't they do this BEFORE Romanelli's speech? Kinda distracting.

05:27 PM EST: Says the petitions were done with integrity, but the judge didn't even look at them. He was unfairly left off the ballot. He says he wants to report the judge for partisan behavior.

05:29 PM EST: Romanelli seems to be going on longer than allotted time - the organizers are giving signals but he keeps talking. They keep prompting off-camera.

05:32 PM EST: Bruce Afron, Naders one of Nader's attorneys is talking about how major parties conspire to keep people off the ballot.

05:37 PM EST: Afron is talking about how the state threw out ballots illegally, and forces highcourt fees for challengers

05:43 PM EST: Nader is now speaking about ballot access. He says other countries have number parties, Chile has 9, Germany has at least 5. But in the US ballot access is severely limited.

05:45 PM EST: Says Arizona has laws that say people from other states can't come over to help get people to sign petitions.

05:46 PM EST: Says Pennsylvania is the "King Kong" of restrictive ballot access laws. It is prohibitively expensive and the number of signatures necessary is ridiculous.

05:47 PM EST: Says everyone understands voters need access to the ballot; yet, candidates are not given equal access. Voter access and candidate access go hand-in-hand.

05:51 PM EST: Says the public lacks indignation over the restrictive rules, because neither of the major parties has a problem with the status quo. They spread disinformation about the situation instead.

05:56 PM EST: (Personal note: I can see why the Greens like this guy - he's a riveting speaker in person.)

06:00 PM EST: Nader predicts the restrictive ballot access laws in Pennsylvania will spread to the rest of the county if they are allowed to stand.

06:01 PM EST: Nader says we live in a two party dictatorship where ballot access is restricted. The is laughing stock material.

06:03 PM EST: There needs to be one federal ballot access rule.

06:05 PM EST: Historically the best ideas have come from 3rd parties.

06:07 PM EST: Speech ended - Q& A starts.

DAMN just lost last ten minutes because I refreshed the page without saving. Dammit, dammit, dammit. A I lost a lot of questions. :(

My question - Considering tax statements can be signed digitally, are you opening a front to allow petitions to be signed digitally?: Nader says it's the next frontier, and that it's a good idea. He posits that the mainstream parties wouldbe against it since it would allow better ballot access.

06:19 PM EST: Romanelli is giving a passionate rant about ballot access, thumped the podium... kinda startled me.

Question: Will your ballot situation be a Supreme Court case? Answer: Yes... several cases may be necessary.

06:30 PM EST: Romanelli just called America a "stinking waste dump" - he's speaking to his frustration at not having ballot access, but sheesh... that's not a good way to make friends in the public.

I like the way Titus North answers questions better. He's a bit drier in replying to questions, but with his style - it's easier to follow his points.