Presidential candidate and consumer advocate Ralph Nader on Friday predicted that congressmen who voted for the financial markets bailout will be punished at the polls in November.

Just hours after the U.S. House approved the measure and President Bush signed it into law, Nader said, “When they get home – after they drink their champagne and get their little pens from Bush – they are going to hit a hornet’s nest of anger.”

Nader will bring his presidential campaign to Lawrence at 6:30 p.m. Thursday for a rally at Abe and Jake’s Landing, 8 E. Sixth St. A news conference is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Nader, who is making his fifth bid for the presidency, is on the ballot in Kansas and 44 other states, generally running as an independent. His vice presidential running mate is Matt Gonzalez, a prominent San Francisco political activist.

Nader said the bailout was a $700 billion blank check to Wall Street that does nothing to help struggling homeowners or correct the speculation that led to the economic mess.

He said Bush stampeded Congress by causing panic in the markets. And, he said, Congress was only too glad to hand over responsibility to Bush.

“It’s a disaster,” he said.

Nader, who received 2.74 percent of the vote in the 2000 presidential election, sometimes gets blamed by Democrats for Al Gore’s defeat by Bush. Nader’s votes in Florida exceeded the difference between Bush and Gore, and it was the Florida vote recount that the U.S. Supreme Court stopped that gave the election to Bush.

Nader said he believes Gore won the election. “It was stolen from him in Florida,” he said.

Ralph Nader’s positions are outlined at this site.