Nader's 2008 campaign not as visible

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. presidential candidate Ralph Nader has been barely visible in the media this year even though he is on the ballot in 45 states, political observers say.

Nader's presence on the presidential ballot was more noticeable in 2000 and 2004 when U.S. President George Bush was locked in close contests against Democratic Party opponents. But unless this year's election between Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and Republican counterpart Sen. John McCain of Arizona gets much closer, Nader, who is running as an independent, won't have the same impact, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported Monday.

"I think he's pretty irrelevant right now," Richard Semiatin, a politics professor at American University, told the Courant, saying of the U.S. media, "They don't even see him." He said he'd be surprised if Nader ends up receiving the 2-3 percent of the vote that many polls show him holding.

Nader, seen as a progressive liberal, told the newspaper he's going to campaign in all 50 U.S. states and accused the major-party nominees of "campaigning for electoral votes, not citizen votes." He said has spent more time than Obama or McCain in California, where he said his staff thinks he could make a good showing.