Will Nader Run?
nytimes.com
July 11. 2003
WASHINGTON, July 10 — Ralph Nader, whom Democrats blame for Al Gore's defeat in the last presidential election, said today that he would decide later this year whether to seek the White House again, as a Green Party candidate or an independent.
Mr. Nader has run three times for president. He fared best in 2000, winning 2.7 percent of the vote nationally and 1.6 percent in Florida, where George W. Bush's 537-vote margin over Mr. Gore swung the election.
Speaking to reporters at a breakfast this morning, the 69-year-old Mr. Nader said his decision would depend in some measure on the fortunes of the two current Democratic contenders whose politics appear to most closely resemble his own: Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio and former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont.
Mr. Nader said any growth in support for Mr. Kucinich, among the most liberal members of Congress, would give him "less reason to go into the election — not no, just less."
As for Dr. Dean, Mr. Nader said he liked what the former governor said in speeches but feared that he would ultimately move toward the center to broaden his appeal.
Mr. Nader hammered away at what he described as corporate greed, unfair treatment of third-party candidates by the Federal Election Commission and the indistinguishable differences between Democrats and Republicans.
He also said Mr. Bush was not only "beatable but impeachable," for "deceptions and prevarications" on national security matters, like insisting that Saddam Hussein had ties with Al Qaeda. He chided the Democrats for their unwillingness to stop treating Mr. Bush as "a wartime president," and implored them to attack him on his positions on the environment, corporate malfeasance and "the growing quagmire in Iraq." |
