Nader, Ventura to Meet

— -- Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader has headed to Minnesota to make a courtesy call on Gov. Jesse Ventura.

ABCNEWS.comJuly 14 — It’s

Ralph Nader’s turn to make a stop at the Minnesota governor’s office.

The Green Party presidential candidate and his running mate Winona LaDuke, an American Indian activist, paid a call today on Gov. Jesse Ventura, a must-see leader on the campaign trail this year.

After their nearly hourlong meeting, Ventura said they talked about the battle third party candidates face against the two party system. “It’s very clear what happens whenever a third-party movement begins to gain strength. The two major parties come together and do whatever they can to squash that third party,” Ventura said.

“[They] don’t want to see another Jesse Ventura come along,” he said.

Besides third party strategy, the fellow third party politicians also talked about legalizing industrial hemp, achieving greater ballot access for third parties, and lowering the cutoff from 15 percent to 5 percent support for allowing candidates into national debates.

“If anything, it will keep people from falling asleep as they watch the drab debate the dreary” Nader said. He filed a lawsuit last month to stop corporate donations to the debates committee, and Reform Party candidate Patrick J. Buchanan has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Committee challenging the 15 percent threshold.

Not Quite an Endorsement

Before today’s event, Ventura’s press director John Wodele said the governor would announce his support for Nader’s inclusion in the debates, but would stop short of an endorsement. Ventura has said in the past that if he endorses anyone, he wouldn’t do so before September.

Reporters asked Ventura if he would campaign for Nader on some of the issues they discussed. “I think I’m doing that now, aren’t I?’ he said.