I should have known better. The rumor was no doubt started by DemocRATS.
Here is an interesting tidbit I came across this morning in a column by Alexander Cockburn:
...Then Terkel hauled out of his pocket a clip from his old friend, the late Chicago columnist Mike Royko, a column published in the Chicago Daily News on Dec. 1, 1970. Royko had printed a coupon carrying the names of the four men most often mentioned as possible Democratic nominees for the presidency in 1972: Muskie, McGovern, Kennedy and Humphrey. Then Royko added Nader’s name. Some 2067 people responded to this coupon. Their vote went as follows: Nader, 1614; Muskie, 148; Kennedy, 42; McGovern 41; Humphrey, 11.
"The response to Nader," Royko wrote, "was surprising for something besides its volume. About a third of the people who said they like him as a possible presidential candidate also wrote accompanying letters. I’ve never received that much mail about any political figure I’ve written about, except when the readers suggested that one of them be put behind bars. Most of the readers were serious and wildly enthusiastic... Throughout the letters ran a common theme: Nader is honest... None of the writers voiced the possibility that Nader might not share their beliefs on such issues as the war, civil rights, and other matters that have nothing to do with consumerism."
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