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Analysis: Nader Targets Disaffected Clinton Voters

ALBANY (AP) ― Ralph Nader, the guy some Democrats still love to hate for his 2000 presidential bid they feel gave George Bush the presidency, is nonetheless hoping to attract Democrats and independents whose hearts were broken again when Hillary Rodham Clinton lost the nomination.

The consumer advocate is taking his independent campaign for president to New York next week, where he hopes to show in statewide stops that in a presidential season where "change" is the mantra, he's the only one with the credentials to claim it.

"Oh!" Clinton said in Albany Tuesday, laughing at the thought of Nader drawing hordes of angry Clinton supporters. "We've seen that movie. It doesn't have a good ending."

The way Nader National Campaign Coordinator Jason Kafoury sees it, a collapsing Wall Street gives his guy a stage, and Clinton's loss gives him a ready audience.

Most others are like Steven Greenberg of the Siena College poll. He scoffed that Nader would be lucky if he gets 2 percent of New York's vote on Nov. 4.

Barack Obama's too hot. New York is too blue.

"I don't think rank-and-file Democrats even remember Ralph Nader ran for president in 2000," Greenberg said.

In this year's campaign, Nader is known mostly for not being invited to things: Televised debates, candidate forums, editorial boards, press interviews.

But conventional wisdom never had much pull with Nader, whose unlikely victims over 30 years include General Motors, the nuclear power industry, and corporate America.

Now, against the odds, he's counting on attracting the disaffected vote in strong showings in New York and California, the biggest of the 45 states where he's on ballots.

He's counting on his sharp contrast to the major parties' support of bailouts for Wall Street, just as Democratic nominee Barack Obama and Republican nominee John McCain debate each other again Wednesday.

"What better messenger than Ralph now to be a leader of `jail time not bail time?"' Kafoury asked.

The White House? Corporate owned. The major parties? Failures. War? It's waged by corporate as well as military forces. Taking on Wall Street before it slams Main Street? He practically invented it.

A protest is planned for Wall Street after Nader hits Cooper Union college in Manhattan on Wednesday for a speech before the televised debates on Long Island.

"I think there's certainly more support for Nader this time than four years ago," said Frank MacKay, chairman of New York's Independence Party.

However, even his minor party of 335,000 members, many of them dissatisfied former Republicans and Democrats, passed over Nader in September to endorse McCain.

"The purist vote would go to Nader, and I think there are certainly more people out there that are going to see him as an option," Mackay said. "Hillary and Bill Clinton may be supporting Obama, but their supporters don't."

He also sees a potential defensive vote going for Nader.

"A President Obama means there will never be a President Hillary Clinton," he said. "For those waiting for another President Clinton ... Ralph is an outlet for them."

The Obama camp is hardly worried.

A Siena College poll this month found Obama leading McCain 58 percent to 36 percent and surging. National Democrat figure New York's 31 electoral votes are a lock.

"We're proud to have the overwhelming support of New Yorkers, and are continuing to work hard through Nov. 4, when we're confident the state will hand Sen. Obama a significant victory," said Blake Zeff, spokesman for Obama's New York campaign.

At 74, Nader still uses the same vocabulary of hand-scrawled protest signs as he did 30 years ago.

"Someone once said," he told "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert in February, "the only true aging is the erosion of one's ideals."

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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