Abstract

Fleeing the Greens

The author comments on plans by Ralph Nader, the Green Party presidential candidate in 2000, to run for the U.S. presidency as an independent in 2004. After Nader notified Green officials that he would not seek the party's presidential nomination in 2004 and let it be known that he might stand as an independent, it can safely be said that a number of Green activists were every bit as upset with Nader as those Democrats who believe the votes he won in key states cost AL Gore the presidency in 2000. In a sense, however, both the Democrats and the Greens are wrong to worry. A Nader candidacy in 2004, either as a Green or as an unaffiliated independent, was never likely to win as many votes as the 2.9 million the consumer activist secured in 2000. The determination to prevent George W. Bush from securing a second term is so strong on the left that it has caused a great many voters who backed Nader, and even some who consider themselves Greens, to grudgingly accept that they will be voting for a Democrat in 2004. Unless the Democrats destroy themselves, 2004 is not shaping up as a particularly good year for breaking the grip of the two major parties. But that does not mean that Nader's move outside the Green fold is insignificant. If Nader runs as an independent and splinters the already small number of potential voters for a progressive alternative to the Democrats and Republicans, he runs the risk of doing serious damage to both the Greens and himself.