Consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who is running for president as an independent, will work to get enough signatures to place him on the Maine ballot, a campaign spokesman said last week.

Considering the relatively low number of Maine signatures Nader needs – 4,000 by Aug. 16, according to the Secretary of State’s Office – one political science professor predicted Nader will be on Maine’s ballot this November.

“I’d be very surprised if Ralph Nader is not,” said University of Maine at Farmington professor James Melcher. Some people will sign petitions not because they want Nader for president, “but out of a sense of fair play,” Melcher said.

Nader is considered by many a spoiler in the close Al Gore-George Bush election of 2000, drawing votes away from Gore and helping Bush to victory.

Nader has taken out papers to collect signatures, according to Jonathan Carter, former Maine Green gubernatorial candidate, and some Nader supporters have begun collecting in Maine.

Nader ran for president as a Green candidate in 2000, but was not picked by the Green Party this year. The Greens nominated David Cobb of Texas for president and Patricia LaMarche of Maine for vice president.

Lacking a party and easy ballot access, the Nader campaign is hoping to get on the ballot in 40 states including Maine, said Forrest Hill of the Nader campaign in San Francisco.

“Twenty-five states will be a cakewalk,” Hill said, explaining that some states require only 500 signatures. But California requires hundreds of thousands, Hill said, adding that’s where the Nader campaign is now focused.