Texas requires that Independent candidates collect 64,076 signatures in 60 days from people who did not vote in either major party primary; by comparision third party candidates have 75 days to collect 45,540.  By the May 10 deadline for Independent candidates, Nader's team had gathered more than 50,000 signatures, short of the required amount.  The campaign filed suit, Nader et al, v. Connor, in federal court in Austin and continued petitioning.  The campaign reported that petitioners encountered restrictive signature gathering rules in public spaces such as street festivals and university campuses and instances of "abuse, screaming, intimidation and name-calling." 

Coordinators in Austin (Debbie Russell), Dallas (Scott Crow), Houston (Bill Blome) and San Antonio (Cesar Maxit) spearheaded the effort.  In an May 25 e-mail, Debbie Russell observed

"Tell me one reason you support John Kerry without using 'George Bush' in the sentence..." (never got that one answered).