Thursday, September 18, 2008

Nader

This will not be welcome news to Democrats still nursing grudges over the 2000 election.

Ralph Nader will be on the ballot in 45 states and Washington, D.C., his campaign announced Thursday. According to the Nader campaign's press release, this "is the most ballots Nader has ever been on ... Nader was on 34 state ballots plus D.C. in 2004, and 44 plus D.C. in 2000."

The consumer advocate's run is getting less attention this year, but with the race as close as it is right now, he could still have an impact. Nader's campaign says he's "polling stronger this year than he was at the same time in 2004 or 2000," and points proudly to the results of polls that CNN and Time conducted in battleground states at the end of August that show him taking a potentially significant chunk of the electorate in some potentially pivotal places. In Colorado, he was polling at 7 percent; in Nevada, 6 percent; in New Mexico, 8 percent; and in Pennsylvania, 7 percent. The same poll data shows Barack Obama and John McCain tied in Nevada and separated by only a point in Colorado, with McCain ahead.
I think Ralph Nader has the same right to run for president as any other native-born American who has reached the age of 35.

That being said, if this little vanity exercise puts John McCain in the White House, I wouldn't want to be the person responsible for Nader's safety. If I were, I would advise him to go into exile.

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