000925.txt Nader may be the wild card in toss-up Wisconsin By Melanie Fonder News-Chronicle WASHINGTON - Since Wisconsin remains one of only a few key undecided states, both presidential candidates are stepping up their visits in the waning weeks left before the election. Wisconsin has not voted for the Republican presidential nominee since Ronald Reagan's second term in 1984. But most recent polls show that both Vice President Al Gore and Bush are locked in a dead heat for the state's 11 electoral votes, with Gore holding a slight edge over Bush. Republican nominee Gov. George W. Bush plans to travel to Green Bay on Thursday; Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., will make a campaign stop in Milwaukee. But Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, who campaigned at the University of Wisconsin-Madison last week, is still hitting a strong chord with the state's typically progressive voters. In most recent polls, Nader usually collects support from around 4 percent of the state's voters. At his campaign stop in the state capital, Nader packed more than 2,000 people into the Orpheum Theatre for a fund-raiser - and more people were outside still waiting to get tickets. Along with Nader's fiery speech, former gubernatorial Democratic candidate Ed Garvey and former television talk-show host Phil Donahue were on hand to help fire up the already-enthusiastic crowd. Details of Bush's visit to Green Bay were expected to be announced today. OILY POLITICS When President Clinton authorized the release of 30 million barrels of oil from federal strategic reserves on Friday, Republicans countered that the move was just another example of his playing politics to help elect Gore. "I am disappointed the president has resorted to an overt political Band-Aid 46 days before the election with his decision to tap into the strategic petroleum reserve," said House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., in a release on Friday. Earlier in the week, Gore switched his position from the beginning of summer and called for Clinton to release the emergency oil. Congressional Republicans have been blasting at the Clinton-Gore administration's "failed energy policy" since this summer's oil crisis. Republicans earlier tried to reauthorize the release of the oil to help counter rising gas prices, especially in the Midwest. Clinton defended his decision Saturday and said the release was warranted to ensure people could heat their homes this winter. STARS BACK CAMPAIGN FINANCE Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., appeared last week at a Capitol Hill rally calling for even greater campaign finance reform. Earlier this summer, Congress passed a law requiring increased disclosure of expenditures by so-called "stealth" political action committees, which Clinton signed into law on July 1. But long-time campaign finance reform activists have continued to seek even greater measures. Along with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Minnesota independent Gov. Jesse Ventura, actors Billy Baldwin and Julia Louis-Dreyfus and musicians Crosby, Stills and Nash attended the rally. Doris Haddock, better known as "Granny D," also attended to show her support. The campaign finance law has recently come under attack by several groups, including the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, which filed a lawsuit in late August challenging the law on the basis of the First and 10th Amendments. This column by Fonder, a staff writer for "The Hill," a Washington-based weekly newspaper that covers Congress, appears every Monday in The Green Bay News-Chronicle. You can email her with comments at melfonder@yahoo.com.