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15,118.

That's the magic number for ballot access for third party candidates in West Virginia.  Campaigns have until August 1st to collect that many signatures on a petition to ensure their candidate is an option for Mountain State voters this November.

The Ralph Nader campaign is already out there.  I watched a couple guys for the Nader camp work Capitol Street during FestivALL recently and they got quite a few people to sign on. (Hence the picture you see in this blog.)

I have to admit I watched out of curiosity, because who can forget the fuss caused by this petition drive four years ago when John Kerry supporters openly yelled at Nader people trying to get signatures.  Democrat leaders took Nader's people to court.  They said the Nader collectors deceived people into signing the petition.  It didn't help that the Nader people scattered like cockroaches in a kitchen when the media showed up in 2004 to simply cover their effort.

But 2008 is a different animal.  The Nader people appear to be hard at work looking to crack the 15k plus number and now word that former Congressman Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for president, may not be too far behind.

A website called ballot-access.org reported today that Barr has enough money to make a push for ballot access in West Virginia.  For a time it was thought that Oklahoma and West Virginia would be too tough for Barr.  He told Fox News recently he's making a fifty state push though.  The website reports that Barr's effort will kick off Wednesday.

I checked in with the Secretary of State's office today.  They tell me that signature collectors have to register with each county in which they want to collect names.  So far in Kanawha County, election officials tell me they only have collectors signed up for Nader and Matt Gonzales, Nader's running mate.