Nadir

Ralph's become nothing more than the kid you don't want on your kickball team.

Democrats Score Win in Fight Over Nader in Florida

A Florida judge ordered county elections officials on Wednesday to issue absentee ballots without the name of independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, a possible blow to President Bush in the battleground state.

Circuit Judge Kevin Davey overruled a move this week by Florida's elections supervisor to include Nader on the ballot for the Nov. 2 election as a Reform Party candidate.

Nader was a candidate in 2000 when Bush won Florida by 537 votes to clinch the White House. Analysts said most of Nader's nearly 98,000 votes in Florida would have gone to Democrat Al Gore had Nader not been on the ballot.

A poll released on Aug. 30 by the Miami Herald and St. Petersburg Times showed Bush leading Democrat John Kerry in Florida by 48 percent to 46 percent, with Nader at 2 percent. The poll surveyed 800 voters from Aug. 22 to 25.