Nader Looks to Another White House Bid in 2004

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ralph Nader accused by some Democrats of
helping elect President Bush by seeking the presidency as a Green Party
candidate three years ago, said on Thursday he wants to make another White
House bid in 2004 and will announce a decision next month.

The veteran consumer advocate said Democrats have not put up enough of
a fight against Bush, but he was still weighing whether he had the financial
and volunteer support to make another third-party or independent bid.


"I would like to run," said Nader, who gained nearly 2.9 million votes
for president in 2000. "Substantively there is a strong argument for
running. Now it's a question of resources -- just getting on the ballot is a
major endeavor."


Nader has started an exploratory presidential committee to begin
raising money for a campaign. He said he was uncertain whether he would run
again for the Green Party, which has been split on his possible candidacy,
or mount an independent bid.


Democrats blame Nader for siphoning votes from Al Gore in the disputed
2000 election, particularly in Florida, where Nader earned 97,488 votes and
Gore's loss by a bitterly contested 537 votes ultimately decided the race.


Nader, who argued in 2000 that there was little difference between the
two major parties, said Democrats should "stop whining" and start mounting
more of a challenge to the Republican Bush on issues like corporate crime,
wages, taxes and the military budget.


"They know that Gore beat Gore," he said of Democrats. "It's just
scapegoating."


He said his campaign could open a second strategic front against Bush
on issues that Democrats had been reluctant to take on, like the size of the
military or corporate malfeasance.


'HANDS TIED'


"If the goal is to defeat Bush, the Democrats have their hands tied on
so many issues that a third political force could elaborate on," he said in
an interview. "They are dialing for dollars from the same corporate
interests and they aren't willing to really challenge him."


Nader said he would push for inclusion in the fall presidential
debates if he runs in 2004 -- he and independent candidate Pat Buchanan were
excluded in 2000 -- and that part of his campaign would be aimed at breaking
the stranglehold on the process held by the two major parties.


A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll in October found two-thirds of Americans
did not want Nader to run again, and he acknowledged that some of his
supporters in 2000 might back a Democrat this time because they were focused
on beating Bush.


"There are a lot of people who supported us in 2000 who are
anybody-but-Bush adherents, and going back into the fold of (Howard) Dean or
the Democrats," he said.


He said Dean, the former Vermont governor who shot to the top of the
Democratic field with his heated denunciations of Bush's policies, was
"better than most," but still did not push Bush hard enough.


He criticized Dean's refusal to back cuts in the military budget and
said he was "a pretty conservative governor."


"He's at a crossroads now," he said of Dean. "The Democrats are
damaging each other far more than any Green campaign could. What they are
saying about Dean ... all that will be used by Republicans."