LOS ANGELES
ONLY four years ago, Robin Taylor was among the thousands clapping and cheering at a Ralph Nader "super rally" in Long Beach just days before the presidential election. Phil Donahue spoke, Jackson Browne performed and Ms. Taylor wore a button that just said "Ralph."
"I found it uplifting," she said. "There was momentum for an alternative. There was respect for the ground that Nader was gaining."
Those were the days.
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This month, Mr. Nader failed to gather enough signatures to qualify for the California ballot, and Ms. Taylor, 39, a kindergarten teacher here, said she knows why. As one of those who volunteered to collect signatures at shopping centers and street festivals, she said she was cursed, scolded, threatened and called "naïve" and "stupid" by Democrats who blamed her for ruining Al Gore's chances to win the White House in 2000 — and for what they see as the resulting wars, tax cuts and other assorted actions of the Bush administration.
Even paid workers quit after a few days because "they were getting yelled at and they weren't making any money," said Forrest Hill, a Nader campaign coordinator in Northern California.
Ms. Taylor said, "I've been asked, 'Don't you feel responsible for all the lives lost in Iraq?' "
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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/fashion/15NADE.html?pagewanted=all