[wvns] Nader considers 2008 bid for White House
Nader considers 2008 bid for White House
Simon Tisdall in Washington
Friday June 22, 2007
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections08/story/0,,2108905,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12
Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the campaign trail
in 2004. Photograph: Jeff Chiu/AP
Ralph Nader, the independent candidate blamed by many Americans for
George Bush's election victory in 2000, says he is considering a run
for the White House next year - even at the risk of dishing the
Democrats again.
The left-of-centre Mr Nader, who made his name as a consumer rights
campaigner, won only 2.74% of the national popular vote seven years
ago. But his 97,448 tally in Florida is widely believed to have
thwarted the Democrat Al Gore, who lost the state - and the presidency
- to Mr Bush by 537 votes.
Mr Nader said he knew he would be accused of acting as spoiler again
if he decided to run. But it was essential that the country be offered
a real choice in 2008 and it would be the Democrats' own fault if they
did not win, he said.
"The two parties are still converging. I really think there needs to
be more competition from outside," he told the newspaper Politico
yesterday. "Democrats have become, over the years, very good at
electing very bad Republicans. Democrats always know how to implode,
how to waver, how to not be authentic."
Mr Nader criticised Hillary Clinton, the Democrat frontrunner whose
failure to back an immediate Iraq withdrawal has alienated many on the
left.
"She is a political coward," Mr Nader said. "She goes around pandering
to powerful interest groups on the one hand and flattering general
audiences on the other. She doesn't even have the minimal political
fortitude of her husband."
Mr Nader, 73, enjoys high name recognition, is a familiar figure on
American television and has written several books. All the same,
political analysts say he cannot win and may have trouble getting on
to the ballot in many states.
Influencing the conduct of the race and the accompanying debate was
his main aim, Mr Nader suggested. His platform would focus on a
pullout from Iraq and "the expanding disconnect between the growth of
the economy and the distribution to people who work hard but don't get
the fruits of it", he said. "What third parties can do is bring young
people in, set standards on how to run a presidential election and
keep the progressive agenda in front of the people."
His intervention adds another variable to a chaotic presidential
election run-up. The number of declared or possible candidates is
already well into double figures for both main parties. On Wednesday,
Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor of New York, also edged
towards a presidential run as an independent after quitting the
Republican party.
According to a USA Today/Gallup poll this week, Mrs Clinton has
established a 12-point lead for the Democratic nomination over the
Illinois senator Barack Obama. John Kerry's running mate in 2004,
former senator John Edwards of North Carolina, is in third place. But
Democrat wild cards include Mr Gore and a leftwing outsider, Ohio
congressman Dennis Kucinich. Mrs Clinton is under attack, meanwhile,
for supposedly relying too much on her husband.
For the Republicans Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, leads
the field, ahead of Arizona senator John McCain, and former
Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. But if Fred Thompson, the actor
and conservative former senator from Tennessee, steps in next month as
expected, Mr Giuliani may be knocked off his perch.
Yet even as the politicians jostle, evidence is accumulating that
voters want radical change all round. Mr Bush's approval rating is
below 30% and falling. And a Gallup poll published yesterday found
only 14% of Americans are "confident" about the way the Democrat-led
Congress is doing its job - an all-time low.
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