Republicans step up fight over primary ballot in New YorkBy Phil Hirschkorn/CNN
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The top three Republican presidential contenders are
feuding over who gets to be on New York's March 7 primary ballot, with George
W. Bush, Steve Forbes and John McCain challenging the validity of each other's
ballot petitions.
At week's end, the fight was still unresolved, pending decisions of state
and federal judges. It appeared Bush would be the only candidate on the ballot
everywhere in New York, with Forbes listed in most places, and McCain in as
little as half the state.
There are 102 nominating delegates at stake in the New York Republican
primary, the third-largest prize for the Republican convention.
McCain's ballot status is the most precarious, with his name now facing
removal in half the state's congressional districts. By Friday afternoon,
attorneys for McCain and Forbes were arguing before a federal judge that New
York's strict ballot rules were unconstitutional and their names ought to be
reinstated across the state.
The dispute is rooted in state laws that require a presidential candidate
to gather 5,000 signatures of registered party voters statewide, including
one-half-of-one-percent of registered party voters in each of the state's 31
congressional districts.
The same rules apply to Republicans and Democrats. Al Gore and Bill
Bradley have both qualified for the Democratic primary -- so has Lyndon
Larouche -- and none has questioned the other's petitions.
The campaign of Texas Gov. Bush, backed by the state's Republican leader,
Gov. George Pataki and his party organization, submitted 150,000 signatures
that appeared to qualify Bush in all 31 districts.
Forbes is now challenging the Bush petitions in six heavily Democratic
districts, all in New York city, for having allegedly fraudulent signatures.
The case is pending before a state supreme court in Brooklyn.
Forbes himself has been removed from the ballot in three Long Island
districts -- two heavily Republican -- over a technical error. His "subscribing witness," or signature gatherer, failed to list his township (in addition to his home town) on the form, said Forbes' campaign attorney Robert Muir.
Muir will ask federal judge Edward Korman to issue a court order
reinstating Forbes in those three districts.
Forbes had submitted close to 80,000 signatures covering all 31 districts,
while McCain's campaign submitted 27,000 names covering only 26 of the 31
districts.
The state Republican committee challenged McCain's petitions in eight
upstate districts for having insufficient signatures. On Wednesday, the
four-member board of elections upheld McCain's petitions, but late Thursday a
state supreme court judge in Albany rejected them.
"To hold otherwise would unfairly and unreasonably treat the McCain
delegates differently than other possible candidates who obeyed the clear and
unequivocal letter of the law and complied with the process," said judge Joseph
Cannizzaro.
McCain's campaign is appealing the decision.
McCain's petitions were also challenged in eight downstate districts, and
he was removed from the ballot in two of them -- one in New York City and one
on Long Island.
McCain will raise the dispute also before judge Korman during an afternoon
hearing. Korman is the same judge who liberalized New York's rules in 1996,
when Forbes fought the party-backed Bob Dole campaign for ballot access.
In 1996, the state originally required candidates to obtain signatures
from 5 percent of registered party voters in each district. Korman ordered the
requirement lowered to one-half-of-one-percent, and the state legislature later
changed the law in advance of the year 2000 election period.
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