Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader said yesterday that Sen. John Kerry wouldn’t be a much better leader than President Bush, but he wants to meet with the Massachusetts Democrat anyway to establish a united front on some key issues.
“What I’d like to do is come out with some collaborative positions that Bush can never blur,” said Mr. Nader, pointing to a crackdown on corporate crime as one possibility. “It would be nice if we could come out taking a common position on that, and throwing the gauntlet down to the Bush administration.”
In a breakfast meeting with reporters, Mr. Nader, a consumer advocate who ran in 2000 as the Green Party candidate, said he has two goals: winning votes for himself and ousting Mr. Bush.
Democrats worry in doing the former, he might prevent the latter, which some say is what cost Vice President Al Gore the 2000 election. At the Democratic Party’s “Unity” dinner last month, officials called on Mr. Nader to reconsider his bid.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press” program Sunday, Mr. Kerry said he looks forward to meeting with Mr. Nader, but will compete for his supporters.
“I have great respect for so much of what he has done through his lifetime. I worked with supporting his Public Interest Research Groups and some of the work he did. I think we have a lot of common interests, frankly,” the Massachusetts senator said.
“John Kerry can beat George Bush. We need to beat George Bush and I will make it unnecessary for them to support Ralph Nader.”
For his part, Mr. Nader said he has watched Mr. Kerry for years and the difference between him and Mr. Bush is “not sufficiently significant,” other than that Mr. Kerry “would slow the deterioration of our country.”
He also called Mr. Kerry a “political accordion — the stronger the citizen support or pressure on him, the better he becomes,” and said he intends to be that pressure.
Democrats have shown they can’t win elections on their own anymore, Mr. Nader said, and they need a jolt from outsiders like his independent candidacy.
“They’ve been losing for 10 years to the worst of the Republican Party. They’ve become very good at electing very bad Republicans,” he said.
He said he can help Mr. Kerry avoid being painted as a liberal by running and, therefore, showing “how moderate Kerry’s proposals are.”
Mr. Nader also said he hopes to highlight issues such as the president’s stance on the Patriot Act and free trade, and ballooning federal spending, which might help suppress turnout among conservatives.
“We’re talking about margins,” he said. “Going into that arena is not an option for the Democrats. They have stereotyped tens of millions of conservatives because they are against abortion and against gun control, so forget about them. That’s a big mistake by the Democratic Party. We have not had that problem.
“Depressing the vote by having them stay home in some numbers, or going to an independent candidacy, is something that will help defeat George W. Bush,” he said.
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