Green candidate Nader explores bid for White House

Ralph Nader, the nemesis of the former vice-president Al Gore in the 2000 American presidential election, is exploring another bid for the White House for the Green Party, further complicating the difficult task facing the Democrats next year.

Associates of the long-time consumer rights advocate and establishment gadfly confirmed yesterday he was raising money for an exploratory bid, and that a Nader 2004 Presidential Exploratory Committee had been set up three months ago.

Theresa Amato, a committee director who served as national Nader campaign manager in 2000, said: "We're using it to test the waters." In addition a website, naderexplore04.org, is being launched, before a decision early next year.

The possible entry of Mr Nader is a nightmare for the Democrats, who are still smarting from their experience of three years ago when Mr Gore was defeated by George Bush despite winning a 537,000 vote plurality in the popular vote. The 2.8 million votes, about 2.7 per cent of the total cast, won by Mr Nader only rubbed salt into those raw wounds.

The story was the same in New Hampshire, where Mr Nader collected more than 22,000 votes, three times the winning margin of Mr Bush. Had the Democrats carried either of those two states, Mr Gore would today be in the White House.

This time, there would seem less reason for a Nader candidacy. Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who has emerged as the frontrunner for the nomination, appeals to many of the angry activists who might otherwise be tempted to vote Green, tapping into this reservoir of votes by using the internet.

Moreover another candidate, the Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, espouses many of the highly liberal social and economic positions held by Mr Nader. Indeed, Mr Nader has often spoken approvingly of Mr Kucinich.

But Mr Kucinich has no hope of victory, and Mr Nader is as famous for his obstinacy as for his idealism. The 2000 election proved that when he feels it is his duty to run, he will be not be swayed by Democratic charges of playing the spoiler or by the argument that he has no chance of winning.

With one exception, the nine declared Democratic candidates have avoided comment on a possible Nader campaign. But a spokesman for Joe Lieberman, who as Mr Gore's running mate felt his impact most keenly, tartly noted that "if history is any guide, the best way voters can get rid of George W Bush is by supporting the Democratic candidate."

Despite an avalanche of abuse from Democrats after the 2000 election outcome, Mr Nader was as unrepentant then as now, arguing that "the only person who could defeat Al Gore was Al Gore himself." Diehard Greens also dismiss accusations that by siphoning off environmentalist votes that would otherwise have gone to Mr Gore, Mr Nader ensured the election of a president beholden to big business and famously unsympathetic to Green causes. Nader supporters say that mainstream Democrats are no less compromised by a corrupt system than their Republican opponents.

But this very consideration, that the Washington-based Democratic establishment no longer represents the party at large, has fuelled the emergence Mr Dean as favourite. He has a large lead in the key state of New Hampshire which holds the first primary on 27 January, and a fundraising machine which eclipses those of his rivals.

Despite his opponents' best efforts and the candidate's own stumbles, the Dean campaign rolls on. He is currently under assault for steps he took last years to seal some of his governor's papers for 10 years. But that seems to be having as little impact as the brouhaha when Mr Dean declared he was out to win the votes of southerners in pickup trucks with Confederate flags - a constituency that will never rally to Mr Nader.

Mr Gore himself meanwhile is this week refighting the left's internal battles of 2000 in San Francisco. Stepping into the liberal city's hardfought mayor's election, Mr Gore has endorsed a moderate Democrat facing a tough run-off contest against the Green Party contender Matt Gonzalez.