Nader Denounces Big Oil and Corporate Greed

As part of his ongoing "whistle stop tour" for the 2008 presidential campaign, Ralph Nader stopped in Glens Falls, New York at a local cafe to speak with supporters and host a fundraiser. Despite a recent Zogby poll which left Nader with 1% of the vote should Obama be the nominee and 3% if Clinton wins the nomination, over 200 enthusiastic supporters greeted the former consumer advocate with a standing ovation. During the fundraiser, Nader took serious issue with gas prices, protesting the government's refusal to regulate the industry or investigate major oil corporations. He denounced the current system, claiming that "the price is made by the New York Mercantile Exchange which is a bunch of speculators and if they hear a rumor about Nigeria, they'll drive it up again and you pay through the nose at the gas pump." Nader further denounced "corporate greed," chastising the Republican and Democratic candidates silence on the issue and citing it as the cause of the nation's current economic woes. Nader hopes to "rouse the people" in his race for the president, and upstate New York seemed to welcome his message.

The Democratic Divide and Hungry Hippo Nader

In a recent Time magazine article highlighting Hillary's 52% lead over Barack's 42% in the most recent poll in the Pennsylvania primary, Time magazine alluded to a potential gain by Nader. According to Time, "Four percent of Democratic voters were undecided, and 2% refused a response. However, 20% of these likely Democratic voters said they would vote for John McCain in November if their Democratic choice does not win their party's nomination." The article later claimed that due to the divide and indecision amongst Democratic voters, Ralph Nader could look forward to a 5% gain in Pennsylvania. Then Time made another astonishing claim:"Nader's 4% could potentially quadruple, as 17% of Democratic respondents said that if their first choice does not get the Democratic nomination, they may vote for Nader." Democratic contention is proving to have wonderful effects on the Nader Campaign. In a recent Michigan poll "with an error margin of plus or minus 4 percent, apparently concluded that if Sen. Hillary Clinton got the Democratic nomination, Sen. John McCain would earn 46 percent of the state's vote and she would get 37 percent, with Nader earning 10 percent". Nader's campaign has been looking pretty glum but with such statements being made due to the continual Democratic rift, Nader might be looking at a general election voter output much higher than in the 2000 election. Although such a gain is unlikely, especially due to the few green votes in 2004, it does shed greater light on the claims made in 2000 that Nader stole votes from the Democrats. The Democratic divide might be too great for the party to repair in time for the General Election the floating, rolling votes will probably be gobbled up by Nader meaning that Hungry Hippo McCain will have a greater chance of winning the campaign. Its just a matter of how the Democratic primary nomination plays out into the General Election.

http://blogs.courant.com/on_background/2008/04/nader-thrilled-with-10-show-of.html
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1732550,00.html