With about 70% of the national vote counted, independent candidate Ralph Nader has now surpassed his vote total from 2004. In that year, the Nader/Camejo ticket won 463,000 votes.

As of midnight Eastern time, media reports are showing Nader with about 475,000 votes… likely on his way to a total of 650,000 or better. Of course, this is far below Nader’s high water mark as the Green nominee in 2000 when he captured just under 3 million votes.

But if California continues to pull in strong numbers for him tonight, there is still a very good chance that he will beat his 1996 result of 685,000…. making this Nader’s second most successful bid for the White House. We’ll know in a few hours if he gets there.