POLITICS 88 : CAMPAIGN ’88 : Draft Carter Push Fails

The head of an organization attempting to draft Jimmy Carter for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination said the group’s efforts appear all but futile.

Clifford Snyder Jr., founder and treasurer of the Draft Jimmy Carter for President in 1988 Committee, said the organization was unable to get the 1,000 signatures needed by Thursday’s deadline to enter the “beauty contest” portion of the June 7 New Jersey primary. The contest measures voter support but commits no delegates.

“We wrote a letter to the executive director of the New Jersey Democratic Party in late February but we’ve had no response,” said Snyder, whose organization is based in Frederick, Md., a town about 35 miles from the nation’s capital.

Snyder said the committee targeted its efforts toward New Jersey because it is the only state in which a candidate’s authorization is not needed for his or her name to be entered for a primary contest.

“From our work here in Frederick, we found there is a substantial number of people who think Carter was a good President,” Snyder said, but he added that Carter “has never given us an indication that he is interested in being a candidate.”