I got a reply from the Nader Campaign on the questions that I posed in my previous Nader Factor post (click here), so, I've re-written my post including their responses;
Ralph Nader is the mostly unknown candidate for the Presidency of the US, and always finishes far far behind the two main political parties on election day. But why are the Democrats moreso than the Republicans worried about him yet again this time round? Well, Ralph Nader is seen as a 'spoiler', or in other words, someone who has the potential to creme enough votes from your voter-base, that there is a risk of the other party winning. Making this doubly worse for the Democrats, is that Nader creme's more of their votes than those of the Republicans.
So who is Ralph Nader?
Ralph Nader is an Lebanese American who was born in Connecticut. After serving in the US Army, Nader became an attorney, but followed a well publicised track into political activism.
Nader ran for President in the 1996 and 2000 elections for the Green party, and then the 2004 and the upcoming election as an independent.
Nader's 2000 bid for president attracted wide controversey and is widely thought to have influenced the outcome.
So, how much of an effect will the Nader Factor have this year? I called the Nader campaign for comment, and recieved a very nice response from a media spokesman answering some of the questions surrounding the potential 'Nader Factor' in this years contest.
The Spokesman said: "When you vote for Ralph Nader out of principle, you show that there is a constituency for single healthcare for all, a living wage, and a just foreign policy--and a whole host of other progressive issues that the two parties gnore for fear of unsettling their corporate paymasters. You show that the lesser of two evils is no longer good enough for the American people. That's the long-term courage and perspective it will take if we are ever going to win the many things (healthcare, living wage) that western Europeans currently enjoy. The history of arge-scale social progress in the US has often emerged from smaller third parties
that never actually won an election, but through their agitation at the ballot box and beyond managed to legitimize their struggles, and as result women won the right to vote and slavery was abolished."
When asked about the effect on the race for the White House, he went on to say: "Regarding the horse race for who wins the Electoral College in which state, current polls suggest Nader will be a factor (i.e. he is polling greater than the margin of difference between Obama and McCain) in Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, and Florida. What has changed, as reported by Newsweek and others, is that Nader is drawing more heavily from McCain voters than Obama's."
It is fair to say though, in what is being billed as a very tight election, just like in 2000, the Nader Factor could once again very well be the deciding factor. One thing is for sure though, and I'm not teaching you to suck eggs, but it is the only certainty in this race, Nader stands no chance of moving into the White House.
How much of an issue will the Nader Factor be, and will it swing the election one way or the other... We shall see...
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