Nader and One Month

"I'll decide in about a month," announced Ralph Nader on CBC Radio last Monday. As stated, he apparently is just working out the financial logistics and attempting to unite his party in order to pull of another successful campaign, which he hopes will be even stronger than his successes in the 2000 election. Although as the blogs keep streaming it seems that the country it seems that efforts are being made in vain. Does America really want Nader to enter in the next election? We don’t know but I’m sure that he’s asking himself the same question and for that reason it may explain all of the Nader delay. And in about a month Nader is expected to give a speech at Emory University on going green against pollution. By then the nation should know whether or not Nader is really going to be seen on the 2008 presidential election ballot.

Ralph Nader Visits Canada

Former Green Party candidate Ralph Nader spent the last week in Canada, where he spoke to nearly 700 young engineers at the seventh annual national conference of Engineers Without Borders Canada in Montreal. The former consumer advocate warned the attendees to be weary of "bureaucratic language" and discouraged them from becoming "servants" to corporate welfare. Nader went on to attack large corporations, claiming that "when big businesses are in trouble, they don't go bankrupt, they go to Ottawa or Washington." However, Nader encouraged the group of engineers, mostly in their twenties, to take advantage of their curiosity and try to bring about change. While in Montreal, Nader also spoke on a CBC radio show and announced that he will decide "in about a month" whether or not to run for president. Nader said that his primary consideration would be whether or not he could arouse enough money and support to get on the ballot - a feature of the U.S. election process which he criticized.

Nader still undecided.

Moments ago nearly 800 people paid to view the five Green Part Presidential candidates "debate." It is an overstatement to say that they were debating for they agreed with each other on nearly every topic, from the war in Iraq to the legalization of marijuana. The five candidates were Jared Ball, Jesse Johnson, Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, and Cat Swift. Ralph Nader is yet to announce that he will be running for the candidacy but he did speak briefly after the debate. He spoke for ten minutes after the debate even though he was scheduled to participate in the debate. In fact Nader arrived late at the debate and left briefly after. This is odd because he was the candidate for the Green Party in both the 2000 and the 2004 election. Furthermore, Nader has not made any sign that he will be the candidate and recently asked his office to declare that he is not a candidate.

Nader endorses Edwards

It’s been a big week for all of the candidates, especially Barack Obama after having won the democratic nomination in the late Iowa caucus. But now all eyes are on New Hampshire. With his recent endorsement of John Edwards on Hardball, Ralph Nader continues to play an indirect role in the upcoming elections. Nader said this of Edwards, the ‘third contending’ runner; “now has the most progressive message across a broad spectrum of corporate power damaging the interests of workers, consumers, taxpayers, of any candidate I have--leading candidate I have seen in years." What does this mean for Edward’s campaign? Well— considering more urgent news developments, Nader’s endorsement is probably in the back of voter’s minds, even fellow consumerists. Nader still maintains a strong influence on a minority of Americans and therefore the endorsement may in fact be a huge asset for Edwards as he heads out in the NH primary. Once again, Nader is exercising some of his political influence in hopes of furthering his political views. We may just have to wait and wonder just how far his ambitions take him in the next election.