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February 25, 2008

Effects of Nader on the 2008 Elections

Ralph Nader in the past has made strides as a non-establishment candidate who developed a huge youth following by connecting with young people on issues that matter to them. In the 2000 elections he performed well in states like Florida which proved to be a key battleground state where Vice President Al Gore lost by a slim margin to now President Bush.

Many Democrats blame Nader for Gore's loss and also claim his presence in the 2004 elections pulled much needed liberal support from John Kerry and cost the elections there as well. The liberal blog DailyKos announced it and what followed were 259 comments (as of midnight) mostly aimed at NaderHating. One accusing Nader of being a Republican candidate in disguise and one asking readers if they know the carbon emissions on Nader's Ego. Another polled readers to discern where they stood on their level of FU Naderism.

Nader's support in 2000 came solidly from a younger population that found both George Bush and Al Gore to be out of touch with their values. As HuffPost blogger Seth Colter Walls recounts

"The current rapprochement represents a dramatic reversal from the intra-liberal divisions of the 2000 campaign, when many youth activists swooned over Ralph Nader's Green Party candidacy... [but] his stock among young liberals has plummeted. The 25,000-strong rallies with celebrity endorsers and Eddie Vedder solo sets from the 2000 campaign will never be repeated...

Even California Green Party activist (and former Senate candidate) Medea Benjamin admits that the younger cohort of her state's 165,000 registered Green party members is torn between supporting the party and jumping to Obama this year...

Yet if the party appreciates the glow of youth endowed by the current media halo, it ought to reflect on how, by failing to provide young voters with a level of ownership during past campaigns, it lost them in the first place."

Walls is right. One main difference is the outstanding amount of youth outreach this year compared with other years. This appears not just in the typical Rock the Vote organizing but a slew of state based and several national organizations that do many different types of outreach. Not to mention the full time teams of staffers on each campaign.

This didn't happen in 2000 nor 2004. And if both parties talk to young voters they won't lose them to a third party.

While the Republican candidate is nearly decided to be McCain, there is still a battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic ticket. It is possible that a Clinton candidacy could be more impacted by Nader's presence on the ticket than Obama's as the Kos bloggers suggest. I don't expect Nader to pull support from McCain but I suppose that is possible.

To be honest, I have no idea. What do ya'll think? Are you so anti-McCain that you'd rather vote for Nader? So anti-Clinton you'd vote for a third party?

• Posted by Ally Klimkoski at 12:30AM on 02/25/08
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