Ralph Nader, who turns 74 this week, announced today that he will be entering the presidential race as an independent. Many Americans, however, are still bitter about the 2000 election in which Nader's candidacy allegedly pulled support away from Al Gore and thus played a role in helping George W. Bush win the election. Nader ran again for president in 2004, but won only .3% of the vote.
Presidential hopefuls Clinton and Obama seemed scornful of Nader. Obama, recalling the 2000 election, argued that Nader "thought that there was no difference between Al Gore and George Bush, and eight years later, I think people realize that Ralph did not know what he was talking about."
Clinton, too, criticized Nader's past bid for presidency, saying "I remember when he ran before. It didn't turn out very well for anybody--especially our country."
The fear that Nader's candidacy could hurt the Democrats in the general election was echoed by Huckabee, who seemed pleased at Nader's decision to run. "I think it always would probably pull votes away from the Democrats and not the Republicans, so naturally, Republicans would welcome his entry into the race."
Do you think Nader's bid for the presidency will have an effect on the general election, positive or negative?
How successful do you think Nader will be at garnering support?
For more information on Ralph Nader's campaign, click here. For more information on his bid for the presidency, click here.
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4 comments:
I really doubt that Nader will have enough support to have any effect on the general election. People are still too bitter about his 2000 campaign leading to Bush's election.
Every time a third party candidate has some support, in the end it seems that he just pulls votes away from one of the major candidates, helping the other party win (Nader in 2000, Perot in 1992)
The Democrats should have nothing to worry about because Nadar is going to have less votes than he did in 2004. Who would want to vote for him after what happened in the 2004 election. I think he is just a waste of independent candidate and will have no chance of gaining support
I agree that Nader will be fairly unsuccessful at getting any support in this election...I think this is kind of a lost cause considering his .3% failure in 2004and the continuing bitterness from the Democrats for the 2000 election. I think that Nader will have a slightly negative effect on the Democrats but I don't think he'll make that big of an effect overall.
Yes, I agree that Nader will have a very small effect on the election however, I beleive that its is too early to say if Democrats should be worried about his entry. If the election turns out to be as close as it was in 2004, then the votes he pulls away from the Democratic canidates can make or break a presidential canidate. In regards to his campaign, I beleive that the critisim of the other canidates will greatly hinder his attempt to garner support.
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