PRO-NEMESIS:

Fourth Time’s The Charm? (Dotty Lynch, Douglas Kiker, Beth Lester and Clothilde Ewing, 12/02/03, CBS News)

It looks like Ralph Nader may be running for president for the fourth time. Although the Gore nemesis has not made a public statement, Politics1.com reports that VoteNader.org – his official 2000 presidential website - has been recently registered and paid for by the "Nader 2004 Presidential Exploratory Committee, Inc."

Although the exploratory committee is not yet registered with the FEC, it is not required to do so until it has raised or spent $5,000. And lest that cast doubt on Nader’s intentions, an e-mailer to Politics1.com says that she/he received a message from the new site implying that Nader will run again. The e-mailer also says that Nader would run as an independent and not a Green. In 2000, despite being a registered independent, Nader ran as the Green Party’s nominee.

Howard Dean seems to have positioned himself far enough beyond the mainstream for this not to hurt him much in the general, but a stop-Dean candidate--Gephardt, Gore, whoever--would certainly alienate the MoveOn.org types enough that Nader would benefit. His one or two percent might get the Democrats down close to 40% nationwide.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 2, 2003 7:48 PM