unite voters across the ideological spectrum and that Nader "will not impact my campaign." Campaign Party lines Populist Party In states where ballot access is more readily available by forming a new political party than by filing as an independent candidate, the Ralph Nader campaign chose to create the Populist Party. Nader appeared on the 2004 general election ballot under the designation "A Better Life" in the State of Minnesota and "The Better Life" in the State of Louisiana. This Populist Party had no connection either to the much earlier American political party of that name or to the late-twentieth century Populist Party, which ran candidates such as David Duke and Bo Gritz and was widely regarded as a racist, white supremacist organization. The Nader campaign expected that the new Populist Party organization would exist only for the limited purpose of achieving ballot access for Ralph Nader in 2004. However, an effort was made by the Populist Party of Maryland to field candidates for governor, other statewide seats, and at the local level for the State Assembly, county, and municipal positions in the 2005 and 2006 elections. Other parties In Delaware, Nader accepted the endorsement of the Independent Party of Delaware on August 15. In New York Nader was nominated by the Independence Party at their party convention, and also appeared on the ballot under the Peace and Justice Party ballot lines. Ballot access As of October 26, 2004, Nader was slated to appear on the ballot in 34 states and Washington, D.C., and was off the ballot in eight states: California, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Virginia. The Nader campaign failed to gain a spot on a number of state ballots, and faced legal challenges to its efforts in a number of states. In some cases, state officials found large numbers of submitted voter petitions invalid. While Nader campaign officials blamed legal challenges by the Democratic Party for their difficulties in getting Nader's name on the ballot, the difficulties faced by petition-gatherers were also a significant factor – there were far fewer people in 2004 eager to sign petitions for Ralph Nader, and petition-gatherers complained that they often received verbal abuse from people they solicited. One of Nader's California organizers observed that "paid signature gatherers did not work for more than a week or two. They all quit. They said it was too abusive." On April 5,