[Am-info] Nader Vows He'll Campaign to the End

Mon, 23 Feb 2004 12:16:37 -0500

Nader Vows He'll Campaign to the End=20

WASHINGTON - Ralph Nader said Monday he would not back off
from his latest campaign for the White House even if the
major candidates are tied in polls going in to Election
Day, a scenario that led many friends and former
supporters to urge him not to run again.=20

A possible repeat of the 2000 election, which ended with
George W. Bush defeating Al Gore by razor-thin margins in
states where Nader polled thousands of votes, did not
deter the consumer advocate from declaring his candidacy
Sunday. He suggested a close race might be more
detrimental to the president than the Democrat nominee.
[More below]=20

"I'd go after Bush even more vigorously as we are in the
next few months in ways that the Democrats can't possibly
do because they're too cautious and too unimaginative, but
they can pick up the vulnerabilities and the failures of
the Bush administration that we point out," Nader said
Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America."=20

Nader rejects the spoiler label as a "contemptuous" term
used by those who want to deny voters a choice. Declaring
Washington a "corporate-occupied territory," he accuses
Democrats and Republicans of being dominated by corporate
lobbyists who care little about the needs of ordinary
Americans.=20

"We've got to give people more voices and choices," Nader
told ABC. "And let me tell you, with 100 million people
not voting, we've got to give them more voices, choices,
more exciting involvement and participation so they're not
just spectators watching candidates parade in front of
them with emotional slogans."=20

Nader, who turns 70 this week, was to lay out his campaign
themes, including universal health care, changes in
campaign finance, fighting poverty and addressing
environmental concerns, at a press conference Monday
before campaigning in Texas later this week.=20

But even old friends such as self-described socialist Rep.
Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the only "independent" in the
House, called Nader's decision "counterproductive." He
predicted "virtually the entire progressive movement is
not going to be supportive of Nader."=20

Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe,
who urged Nader not to run, called the decision
"unfortunate."=20

"You know, he's had a whole distinguished career, fighting
for working families, and I would hate to see part of his
legacy being that he got us eight years of George Bush,"
McAuliffe said Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation."=20

Sanders and others suggest that Nader will not pull close
to the 2.7 percent of the vote he won in 2000, when he ran
on the Green Party's ticket, because he will have a
difficult time getting on many state ballots without the
backing of a party or major financial resources.=20

Experts on ballot access say an independent needs about
700,000 signatures to get on the ballot in all 50 states,
a prospect Nader likened to "climbing a cliff with a
slippery rope."=20

But he is undaunted, saying he is confident he can collect
more than the $8 million he raised in 2000 using the same
Internet fund-raising strategies that former Vermont Gov.
Howard Dean employed before dropping out of the race. As
always, he will rely on small contributions and refuse
money from corporations and political action committees.=20

Nader Lets Democrats Muzzle Him=20

Democrat officials issued a statement Sunday saying Nader
has promised McAuliffe he will not criticize the Democrat
nominee, but rather focus his candidacy against the Bush
administration.=20

Nader acknowledged the pledge but said it did not mean he
will refrain from criticizing Democrats if they attack
him. "I'm not going to avoid responding," he said.=20

=2D-=20
"...Linux, MS-DOS, and Windows XP (also known as the Good, the Bad, and
the Ugly)."