Nader still fighting over alleged 2004 conspiracy

MACHIAS, Maine -- Ralph Nader didn't have any luck in Washington, D.C., with a lawsuit alleging a conspiracy to keep him off the 2004 presidential ballot. So he's taking his case to a sparsely populated Maine county at the nation's easternmost tip.

The lawsuit five years after contends the John Kerry campaign and Democratic leaders conspired to keep Nader off the ballot in Maine and more than a dozen other states.

Nader's lawyer, Oliver Hall, said there was a concerted effort by Nader's enemies to use courts as a weapon to sabotage Nader. The lawsuit targets Kerry's presidential campaign, the Democratic National Committee and the Maine Democratic Party.

Arden Manning, executive director of the Maine Democratic Party, called the claim "laughable."