Nader raps Bush, Kerry as too alike
By LAURA WALSH
Associated Press Writer
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader returned to his home state Wednesday to campaign at Yale University, the alma matter of his two opponents.
Nader spoke to a small crowd in front of the building that houses Skull and Bones, a secret society whose members reportedly included President Bush and John Kerry. He said the two major-party candidates need to answer questions regarding their involvement in the group.
The consumer advocate said Bush has appointed to public office 10 members or former members of Skull and Bones.
"We're dealing here with members of a secret society who presumably prefer each other in terms of advancing each other, recommending each other, appointing each other to public positions and enhancing each other's business deals," Nader said.
Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader gestures as he speaks to students at Brown University Wednesday in Providence, R.I. (AP)
Despite poor poll numbers and his inability to get on the ballot in every state, Nader said he is still campaigning hard.
He was also in Providence Wednesday, speaking to an audience of nearly 800 at Brown University.
Some in the audience, like Jennifer Almeida, 31, from Quincy, Mass., voted for Nader four years ago but haven't decided yet if they'll do so again.
Almeida is an independent who likes Nader's stance as someone "who's not bought and paid for by special interests."
Jenn Pohle, 20, of New Haven, Conn., said she'll definitely be voting for Nader.
"He doesn't quit, that's really good," said Pohle, an independent.
Nader said a vote for him means a chance to break up a two-party election system that leaves little room for competition.
Democrats worry that Nader will take some support from Kerry, potentially giving President Bush the edge in swing states considered critical by both parties in this year's election.
Critics have said Nader's candidacy in 2000 cost Democrat Al Gore the presidential election. Gore lost by just a few hundred votes in Florida, where Nader received 970,000 votes.
"Listen, a vote for Kerry is now a vote for the war in Iraq," Nader said in Connecticut. "He wants to go into a full war until victory. That's going to be huge bloodshed, a huge drain on our tax dollars. It's another Vietnam."
Nader is on the ballot in more than 30 states, including Rhode Island, and is suing for ballot access in several others.
In Connecticut, a Quinnipiac University survey of likely voters had Kerry leading Bush 50 percent to 44 percent, with 2 percent supporting Nader. The poll of 1,044 registered voters was conducted from Sept. 26-28 and has sampling margin of error of about 3 percentage points.
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