Michael Hoover wrote:
'best' reason why nader shouldn't run is that he is stone cold bore...
But at least he has the nerve to stand up to Communist Chinese tyranny and those corporate purveyors of porn to children!
perhaps he should go back to doing what he does best, what mainstream (specifically, 'rational choice') poli sci people call 'political entrepreneur', takes lead in setting up and operating groups, lets others 'free ride' to give appearance of broad-based support, political activity akin to 'business decision', nader as 'founder' of interest group lobbies/'astroturf' political orgs is 'good investment', nader as candidate is 'bad investment'...
He lost a lot of trial lawyer funding, according to Thomas Burke (check out my interview with him at <http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html>; scroll down to the Dec 19 2002 show). They're steamed that he cost Gore the election (their perception, not mine).
Doug
The 2000 Nader/Green Party presidential campaign was, financially, a minus for Ralph Nader as an individual political entrepreneur but, in terms of gains in votes, offices, etc., a plus for the Green Party as a mass political party in the making.
The impact of the 2000 presidential campaign on Nader: "Public Citizen, the biggest group Nader founded, lost 20 percent of its membership and $1 million in donations after 2000" (Dick Meyer, "Run, Ralph, Run," <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/20/opinion/meyer/main601290.shtml>.
The impact of the 2000 presidential campaign on the Green Party:
The Green Party in 2000 didn't do as well as many Green voters hoped, but it did receive nearly 3 million votes for its presidential ticket -- quadrupling the Green votes between 1996 and 2000:
***** Green Party Year Pres. Candidate VP Candidate Total Votes 1996 Ralph Nader Winona LaDuke 684,872 2000 Ralph Nader Winona LaDuke 2,882,955
<http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/government/elections/president/timeline.htm> *****
According to former New Haven Green Alderman John Halle, "The 2000 Nader presidential run significantly enhanced the profile of the Green Party. The number of registered Greens since then has gone up by a factor of four, I believe, if not more. There are also now over 200 local officeholders, one of whom, the second highest elected official in San Francisco nearly became mayor" (at <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20040216/003874.html>).
If the Howie Hawkins wing of the Green Party get their way, the Green Party will nominate Nader as its presidential candidate again in 2004. According to Hawkins, "Ralph would like the Green Party nomination, but is running independent as 'insurance' because the Greens aren't clear if and how they want to run a presidential campaign and won't be until their June convention, too late for ballot access reasons in many states" ("Nader Wants Green Nomination," Sat, 21 Feb 2004 16:51:41 -0500). I recommend to John Halle (to whom I am cc'ing this message) that the Green Party should nominate Nader, unless Peter Camejo wants to run himself, which he doesn't (and I have it on good authority that he doesn't). -- Yoshie
* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>