Posted at 1:11 PM ET, 02/24/2008
Nader Hopes Third Presidential Run Is the Charm
By Zachary A. Goldfarb

"Consumer activist Ralph Nader today launched his third bid for the
presidency, saying he is not concerned that his candidacy could deny
the Democrats the White House in November"

Nader Hopes Third Presidential Run Is the Charm
By Zachary A. Goldfarb

Consumer activist Ralph Nader today launched his third bid for the
presidency, saying he is not concerned that his candidacy could deny
the Democrats the White House in November.

"If the Democrats can't landslide the Republicans this year, they
ought to just wrap up, close down, emerge in a different form," Nader
said. "You think the American people are going to vote for a pro-war
John McCain who almost gives an indication he's the candidate for
perpetual war?"

Many Democrats still blame Nader for costing Vice President Al Gore
the presidency in 2000, when the race was decided by a razor-thin
margin in Florida. Nader ran again in 2004 but had little impact on
the race.

Nader announced his candidacy in the same way as he did four years
ago, on NBC's "Meet the Press." He said that he was running to draw
attention to issues ignored by the major candidates in both parties:
corporate crime, worker rights, military spending and foreign policy.

"You take that framework of people feeling locked out, shut out,
marginalized and disrespected," he said. "You go from Iraq, to
Palestine to Israel, from Enron to Wall Street, from Katrina to the
bumbling of the Bush administration, to the complicity of the
Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax
cuts."

Nader credited Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), who leads the Democratic
nomination race, with being "the first liberal evangelist in a long
time." But Nader said Obama's "better instincts and knowledge have
been censored" by the demands of the campaign.

"He's leaned, if anything, toward the pro-corporate side of policy-
making," Nader said. The question is, he added, "Do you have the
fortitude to stand up against the corporate powers ... and get things
done for the American people?" Obama, he said, has also erred on
foreign policy. "He was pro-Palestinian when he was in Illinois,"
Nader said. "Now he's supporting" the Israeli government's policies,
he added.

Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, said
he thought Nader's run would help his party.

"I think it always would probably pull votes away from the Democrats,
not the Republicans," Huckabee said on CNN's "Late Edition." "So
naturally Republicans would welcome his entry into the race and hope
that maybe a few more will join in."

But Obama said Saturday that he was not concerned about a Nader bid.

"I think the job of the Democratic Party is to be so compelling that a
few percentage [points] of the vote going to another candidate is not
going to make any difference," the Illinois senator said.

Surrogates for Obama and Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
(N.Y) said today that Nader was unlikely to make a difference in the
general election.

"I think it's a non-event," said Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a
supporter of Obama, on CBS's "Face the Nation." "These are primaries
and caucuses that have excited the national interest, brought
thousands and thousands of new voters in. ... They're not looking for
a third party candidate."

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, a Clinton supporter, agreed with that
sentiment. He added that the real variable is whether New York Mayor
Michael Bloomberg will get into the race.

"I think that would have a major impact on the outcome of the race,
and I think it's unpredictable which side would hurt the most on
that," Corzine said on "Fox News Sunday."

The Democratic surrogates also agreed that Clinton had to win March 4
primaries in Ohio and Texas to stay competitive in the race. They
differed, however, on whether momentum was turning in her favor or
whether it was continuing to drive Obama, who has won 11 consecutive
primaries and caucuses.

"I think it's very challenging for her if she does not win both
states," Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, an Obama supporter, said on Fox.
"She's the leader in both states in the polling now, but what we see
in the Obama campaign is really strong momentum in both Ohio and
Texas."

"Those of us who are supporters of Senator Clinton believe and feel
pretty positive about what's going to happen in Ohio and Texas. Our
read is that she's doing well. She turns that momentum around if she
does well there," Corzine said. "If she doesn't, I think she'll have
to review where she stands, and that's what the former president
talked about this week."

Former president Bill Clinton told a crowd in Texas last week, "If you
don't deliver for her, then I don't think she can be" the nominee.

The campaign surrogates also sparred over a series of Obama fliers
sent to voters in Ohio. Clinton charged Saturday that the two mailings
-- criticizing her views on health care and trade -- "are straight out
of Karl Rove's playbook."

"Shame on you, Barack Obama. It is time you ran a campaign consistent
with your messages in public," Clinton said.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Clinton supporter, said on CBS that
"when flyers come out that misrepresent her position on these two
fundamental issues, I'm sure she is going to be very passionate about
it. And, I think, rightly so."

Napolitano disagreed. "The flyers use her own words. But more than
that, it was a sound of frustration to me. These are flyers that are
several weeks old," she said. "Why the timing was yesterday is
peculiar and perhaps tactical."

A number of the governors who appeared on the Sunday shows are high on
pundits' lists of potential vice presidential candidates. None was
quick to knock down the idea of being No. 2.

"I have a day job, and I support [Sen. John McCain] because I think
he'd be a great president, not because I want to be vice president,"
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said on Fox.

"I mean, any of us have awfully busy day jobs, and add to that we've
got four young boys back at the house. So you know, you worry about
these kinds of lightning strikes if they come your way, but you don't
worry about them until then. I mean, you focus on the job at hand,"
said South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, another McCain supporter.

Kaine said of Obama tapping him, "[I]t's nice to be on a list. My mom
likes it if I'm on a list. But I do have a very important job at hand,
which is governing Virginia, and I want to do everything I can to help
Barack win Virginia, and I think I can do that as governor."

It took a senator to knock down the idea completely. When asked if she
were interested, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) flatly said, "No."

On ABC's "This Week," she added, "I would just remind you that there
were a lot of short lists in 2000, during the election, and the person
who got the vice presidency was not on any list."

Another Republican senator, Chuck Hagel (Neb.), would not commit to
supporting his party's nominee, likely to be McCain.

"[A]t the appropriate time, I'll have something to say about it," he
said on CNN.

Hagel once considered running for the presidency himself.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-talk/2008/02/nader_hopes_third_presidential.h
tml?hpid=topnews

Some of the best news for McCain has happened this week. The New York Times
totally screwed up in their liberal rhetoric and then Nader announced he
would run.

Democrats should convince Paul to run on a 3rd party ticket.