Kerry and Nader to meet Wednesday

SAM HANANELP> Associated Press WritersP>

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Democrat John Kerry will meet Wednesday afternoon with independent Ralph Nader and make his case for uniting against President Bush. Nader insists he cannot be persuaded to leave the race.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the consumer advocate said he looked forward to discussing "certain common policies" with Kerry.

"I think that's for the good of our country and for the benefit of the American people that are being ignored or repudiated by the Bush regime," Nader said Tuesday night.

He said he doubted that Kerry would ask him to withdraw from the race, and repeated his long-standing position that he had no intention of doing so.

more: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ct--kerry-nader0518may18,0,5485642.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

..or even worse, demonizing him. I hope he learns from Gore's mistakes and I hope Nader ultimately does the right thing, whatever that may be.

Ignoring him definitely doesn't work. If Nader is determined to follow his road regardless, the gloves should come off.

the fact is that most people who are going to vote for him are going to do so regardless.

But if there are people on the fence (as it seems many here on this board are) or people who may be convinced to vote for Kerry, then demonizing does nothing to benefit Kerry or Dems in general. It would only scare off the fence sitters and wouldn't really gain Kerry any ground in any area.

I just want us to fight back while he's slandering our party. I don't want to see him swoop in and gather up a bunch of idealistic but inexperienced college students and convince them to cast a vote that they could regret for the rest of their lives without challenging him. Ralph Novak was invoking him yesterday. That's Ralph Novak! If Nader is going to do what he did last time - provide the RW with ammunition and basically focus his campaign as if he was only running against the Democrat then I think it's time to take off the kid gloves.

So far he hasn't really been hammering the "no difference" mantra from 2000. He's mostly keeping it an issue of choice and for voters to have as many choices as possible. Much as I worry about the effect he will have on the election, if he keeps at it from that angle I really can't argue as much even if I disagree with him.

If he keeps himself on a positive track and doesn't attack Kerry and vice versa, then I have no problem.

I hope that Nader holds his his feet to the fire.

Not "embraces Nader's platform wholesale", just stops moving to the right.

One thing I'll happily give Kerry is his willingness (by all appearances, anyway) to begin forging a wider alliance. The appearances and work with Dean have been good, and while I guess we'll have to see what comes out of this meeting with Nader, I think just the meeting itself is reason for guarded optimism.

he can sink his teeth into. The Nader factor could
kill us again, and that would suck.