Nader, whose steady attacks weakened Al Gore in 2000, says his new campaign would be different. "This time, the opponent is Bush, and I really have very little interest in going after the Democrats," says the founder of America's modern consumer movement. Indeed, Nader even has some kind words for Democrats, particularly ultraliberal Representative Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio). He calls retired General Wesley Clark "pretty open-minded and well-informed."

The Nader for President website has announced that their $20,000 fundraising goal to get Nader on the ballot in Texas was reached one day early, and that the three Texas coordinators for his campaign have been hired. Tomorrow is the first day that Nader campaign volunteers will be allowed to gather the 64,076 signatures needed within in 60 days from people who did not vote in the March 9th primary, to get Nader on the ballot as an independent candidate in Texas.

Knight Ridder is reporting today that while Nader is not seeking either Reform or Green Party nominations, that there is a burdeoning movement on both the left and right to get Nader on state ballots as a Reform Party candidate and a Green Party candidate. The national Reform Party has maintained ballot lines in seven states that are pretty much Nader's for the asking.

That article states:

"In California, Nader ally Peter Camejo won the Green Party's presidential nomination in last week's state primary, collecting 74 percent support. But Camejo says he won't run for president. "I think it's very important for Greens to endorse Ralph Nader. Nader's campaign is a factor in the election now," Camejo said.

Greens are trying to determine if Nader would accept a draft and have asked him to make his intentions clear. Nader declared in December that he wouldn't seek the Green Party's nomination because he didn't want his candidacy to be constrained by Green Party rules, but that's not the same as renouncing Green Party support.

Nader spokesperson Kevin Zeese said Nader would soon issue a "statement of intent" regarding the Green Party. It has ballot lines in 21 states and is organizing to get on ballots in about 20 more...

In 2000, Nader's name was on the ballot in 13 different incarnations, including as the nominee of the Progressive Party in Vermont and the Mountain Party in West Virginia. Nader was clear when announcing that he would run again this year that he would be on ballots under different party names.

"Fifty states - that's definitely what the goal is," said Zeese.

And from an article on Nader at Business Week Online:

"...(W)hy is Nader even thinking about running again? It's all about the failure of the two-party system to even address issues he considers critical: living wage laws, universal health care, control of the public airwaves, protecting pensions, and public financing of elections. "Every four years, the two parties get worse," he says.

Nader On The Record

On Jan. 5, correspondent Paul Magnusson spent two hours talking with Nader. Some excerpts of their conversation:

On the two-party system
The assumption is that this is a two-party country and that everyone else should shut up and get in line. And that's pretty unacceptable to me.

On the Democrats
We don't patent our issues. If we show the way to defeat President Bush on A or B or C or D, the Democrats are perfectly free to pick up on it because let's face it, they aren't the most imaginative people in politics.

On Howard Dean
Dean is a work in progress.... He has the choice of whether he'll go with the old DLC crowd, the corporate Democrats, or shift to a progressive campaign based on the feedback he's getting from the Internet.

On Bush
You are hearing some static from authentic conservatives about things they don't like about Bush -- deficits and the fact that he's not doing anything about corporate pornography and violence directed to kids.... If I do run, I am going to make a bid for that slice of the conservative, libertarian vote that I have always had good resonance with on issues of corporate power, globalization, and corporate welfare.

On the wave of corporate scandals
Democrats didn't have to beg the media to cover it. It was on the cover of all the magazines and on the nightly news shows. The time was ripe. But Democrats are dialing for the same dollars [as Republicans]. So they put out a little statement. Companies know they aren't serious.