Nader '55 announces presidential candidacy

Ralph Nader '55 announced yesterday he will run for president as an Independent, making him the first Princetonian to enter the 2004 race for the White House. The decision dismayed many Democrats, who think Nader's 2000 bid cost Al Gore the race.

Nader will hold a press conference to explain his decision this morning at 10 a.m.

"It's a question between both parties flunking," he said yesterday on NBC's Meet the Press. "It's time to change the equation and bring millions of American people into the political arena."

Democratic National Chairman Terry McAuliffe told CBS's Face the Nation that Nader's decision was "unfortunate," saying, "You know, he's had a whole distinguished career, fighting for working families, and I would hate to see part of his legacy being that he got us eight years of George Bush."

A Wilson School major at Princeton, Nader is a well-known consumer advocate and environmental activist. This is his fourth bid for the presidency.

Nader was a write-in candidate in 1992 and a Green Party candidate in 1996 and 2000.

His strongest showing came last election, when he garnered less than 3 percent of the national vote and fell short of the 5 percent needed to qualify for federal matching funds in the next election.

Nader announced in December he would not seek the Green Party nomination but maintained an exploratory committee to determine whether to run as an independent.

Since then, he said, he has raised about $150,000. Meanwhile, he has been flooded by pleas to stay out of the race, with websites such as www.RalphDontRun.net and www.RepentantNaderVoter.com springing up in opposition.

Many Democrats, including Jefferson Pestronk '05, believe Nader is hurting his own cause by deciding to run for the White House.

"If he wants a seat at the table, then he should speak with the Democratic candidate or the DNC," Pestronk said. "If he considers it so important to get Bush out of the White House, then potentially taking votes from a Democratic candidate may not be the best way of achieving it."

But Evan Baehr '05, president of the College Republicans, said Nader's bid might not be all positive for President Bush.

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"Obviously Nader will most likely take votes away from whoever receives the Democratic nomination, and in that sense it will help Bush," Baehr said. "But it might hurt Bush in that it's one additional candidate generating attack ads, one other person against whom Bush must campaign."

Baehr added that third-party participation in an election has inherent value.

"His decision to run will raise important debates," he said. "It's always healthy to have many candidates each addressing specific issues, because the more diverse the ideas that come up, the more voters are informed and the better the policies we will arrive at."