Looks Like Nader Might Run

Via Talking Points Memo, I see that there is a Nader 2004 Presidential Exploratory Committee website now. Not wanting to criticize Nader without cause, I first thought that this might be a site made by someone urging Nader to run, similar to the various Draft Clark sites. So I did a quick whois domain registration search (*), which reveals that the person who registered the site hails from the domain votenader.org, which is registered to “Nader2000”. I vaguely recall that Nader2000.org was the official campaign site of Nader in 2000, but it’s no longer active. Fortunately, a quick search of archive.org reveals that Nader2000.org actually was a web site in 2000 and that it directs people to the “official” 2000 campaign site, votenader.org.

In a nutshell, the website is real, and Nader — not some enthusiastic supporter — does in fact have an exploratory committee. Allow me to suggest this as the official campaign slogan: “Four More Years”. And no, this post is not another attack on the Greens, but rather an appeal to Greens to recognize that Nader running in 2004 is a bad idea. Every vote counts and taking any away from the eventual Democratic nominee is perilous, unless you want more energy bills, more regressive tax cuts, more war, and so on.

AB

(*) Ok, I was secretly hoping to find that the site is registered to the Republican National Committee. It’s not.

UPDATE: Via TBogg, I see that Eric Alterman has a post on the subject. I have to endorse TBogg’s take: “Whatever good that Ralph Nader did years ago is now gone. Vanished. Zero balance. If he runs again, he goes into the negative.”