Nader in 2012
There is a pretty good chance that Ralph Nader will run for President in 2012. The thing to remember about third party candidates who run for President is that they rarely harbor any illusions about the possibility of actually winning the Presidency. What they are trying to do is bring certain issues to the forefront. 
Ralph Nader knows, by now, that he can’t win an election. And he knows that his runs are getting him less and less attention. He’s particularly disliked among the moderate left because, were it not for him, Al Gore almost certainly would’ve won the Florida election in 2000, thus putting the presidency in the hands of the democrats for another 4 years. Given the context of what happened in those four years, you can’t blame the Democrats for holding a bit of a grudge against Ralph Nader.
But this is really the point for Ralph Nader. He’s always been something of a populist, and his major contention is the stranglehold the bipartisan system has on the modern Presidential elections. In 2008, he got half a percent of the popular vote. And he was the third most voted for candidate. Half a percent. This isn’t so much a comment on the voters themselves, in Naders view, as it is on the bipartisan system.
Nader was famously excluded from a Presidential debate at UMass in 2000 that was controlled by the Commission on Presidential Debates, run by the Republicans and the Democrats. He was given a ticket to the event, where he hoped to at least ask questions of the two candidates, but the CPD kicked him off the UMass Campus. This is really, at its core, what Nader is fighting against. There are certain issues which he simply wants to put on the table. In 2004, John Kerry met with him to try and get Nader’s endorsement, and Nader, rather than refusing to out of pride, asked Kerry to simply adopt any three of Nader’s pet issues to his platform. Most of the issues Nader suggested weren’t particularly damaging stances for Kerry to take, but for whatever reason, Kerry didn’t, and Nader joined the race.
It’s likely that disillusionment with Obama will be an issue in 2012. Most of the votes that Nader takes will be taken from Obama, so if Obama wants to neutralize Nader, he needs to take on some of Nader’s issues now rather than looking like he’s espousing them simply for political expediency. Obama, so far, has more or less been incredibly pragmatic in trying to garner Republican support for his policies. This hasn’t panned out for him. The Republicans have done an excellent job of shooting down any conciliatory gestures he’s made, so perhaps Obama should start espousing his further-left political views in the White House and try to re-energize that base, rather than letting those voters slip back to Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader, Mr. Obama, does not care if you win or lose the election. So don’t expect to get any sympathy from him. Maybe if you just included him in the debates…
RALPH,
RUN FOR THE PRESIDENCY IN 2012. I’VE NEVER VOTED FOR YOU BEFORE, BUT I WILL IN THE UPCOMING ELECTION.
Good for him!! Go Nader!! for your issues! and federalist 10