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WASHINGTON — Former Green Party candidate Ralph Nader is poised to declare that he will seek the presidency again this year, this time as an independent and despite a vigorous effort by the left to dissuade him, according to friends and associates.
"I think there's very little doubt," said Micah Sifry, author of a book on third-party politics and a longtime Nader watcher. "I think he's going to run."
Nader, blamed for tilting the 2000 election to President Bush by siphoning off votes from Al Gore, twice has delayed saying whether he would be a candidate, but insiders expect the declaration next week.
Sifry is part of the campaign to stop Nader from running, including an open letter to him last month in The Nation, a liberal magazine that has been associated with Nader for 30 years. Nader contributors from 2000, such as Ben Cohen, a co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, also are organizing "No, Ralph, No" efforts.
Some Nader advocates had an epiphany after the 2000 election. Bush beat Gore by 537 votes in Florida, where Nader received 97,488 votes. Nader also arguably cost Gore New Hampshire.
Nader always has rejected the spoiler label. "It is not my job to elect my opponents," he has said.
"I think there's very little doubt," said Micah Sifry, author of a book on third-party politics and a longtime Nader watcher. "I think he's going to run."
Nader, blamed for tilting the 2000 election to President Bush by siphoning off votes from Al Gore, twice has delayed saying whether he would be a candidate, but insiders expect the declaration next week.
Sifry is part of the campaign to stop Nader from running, including an open letter to him last month in The Nation, a liberal magazine that has been associated with Nader for 30 years. Nader contributors from 2000, such as Ben Cohen, a co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, also are organizing "No, Ralph, No" efforts.
Some Nader advocates had an epiphany after the 2000 election. Bush beat Gore by 537 votes in Florida, where Nader received 97,488 votes. Nader also arguably cost Gore New Hampshire.
Nader always has rejected the spoiler label. "It is not my job to elect my opponents," he has said.
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