In Shadow of the Debate, Nader To Stage His Own Show

Ralph Nader is not taking his exclusion from next Tuesday's presidential debate lying down.

After failing to convince the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) that he ought to be allowed to participate in the University of Massachusetts at Boston debate, the Green Party presidential nominee will create a major media event of his own by holding court a few miles away on Sunday, at the FleetCenter, surrounded by thousands of his allies.

Nader, a lawyer and consumer advocate who has repeatedly criticized the "corporate media" for failing to cover his anti-corporate campaign, hopes that the establishment press will take notice--if the event is successful.

"They can't ignore this," said Patrick J. Keaney, a Nader campaign spokesperson.

Keaney, who is coordinating the rally out of Nader's Somerville campaign office, predicted a sell-out of the arena's approximately 13,500 seats.

Tickets cost $10.

Nader will again call for the bipartisan CPD to allow him into the commission's three scheduled debates. The commission currently requires that candidates be winning at least 15 percent those surveyed in a number of national polls. Only Vice President Al Gore '69 and Texas Gov. George W. Bush meet those criteria. Nader has consistently polled in the single digits and is now at three percent, according to a Zogby poll released Monday.

This week, the commission formally rejected Nader's pleas for inclusion, saying that the candidate's presence would distract the national audience.

However, as Nader supporters point out, while he has not approached 15 percent in national polls, those same polls have repeatedly shown that a majority of Americans want Nader to be allowed in the debates.

Nader supporters conceded that the rally, even if well-attended, will probably not be enough to get Nader into the UMass debate--in fact, the campaign has already planned a protest outside the debate.

"October 3 is pretty unlikely at this point," said Clifford M. Ginn, a first-year Harvard Law School student leads the Nader campaign on campus. But supporters hope the other two debates are not out of Nader's reach.

"As they continue to squeeze him out of the debates, more and more people are going to start scratching their heads," Keaney said.

Organizers hope Sunday's rally will build on the successes of other large events Nader has held, starting with an Aug. 25 rally in Portland, Ore.

Nader also addressed over 10,000 supporters in Minneapolis and Seattle last Friday and Saturday, respectively.

In addition to Nader's speech, the FleetCenter rally will feature filmmaker Michael Moore as the master of ceremonies as well as a speech by historian Howard Zinn.

Keaney said he believes Zinn, the author of A People's History of the United States, will speak on the historical significance of Nader's presidential run.

Nader's Boston visit is part of an unusual campaign strategy, seeking not so much to win the election as to gain the five percent of the vote needed to qualify for federal funding in subsequent campaigns.

According to Jerome M. Mileur, who is the chair of the UMass political science department, this strategy is the most significant attribute of Nader's candidacy.

"He is, to my knowledge, the first third-party candidate for president to try to build the party within the framework of the current campaign finance laws that provide public funding for any party that gets five percent of the vote in the general election," Mileur wrote in an e-mail message.

This objective sets up a unique electoral strategy.

Both Bush and Gore are devoting few electoral resources to liberal strongholds like Massachusetts, which both candidates agree will give its electoral votes to Gore.

As a result, Nader has an open field to draw crowds and build support in areas of the country where he is already popular. These areas include liberal cities and suburbs in New England and politically independent West Coast states.

Keaney said that future rallies in Los Angeles and San Francisco may be in the works.

The aim is to turn out as many Nader voters as possible, Keaney said, regardless of where they live.

"If the Democrats reliably win in your state, as they do in Massachusetts, then you have the luxury of voting for Ralph Nader," Keaney said.

He added that Nader has been hurt by the public's perception that "a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush"--a mantra he said has been constantly--and misleadingly--repeated in the media.

When Nader visited MIT in May, for example, Marc Stad '01, president of the College Democrats, responded predictably.

"A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush," Stad had told The Crimson.

Keaney said this argument won't dissuade too many progressive voters from voting for Nader.

"Five percent nationally is not going to be a problem," said Keaney, who claimed that Nader actually hopes to win Massachusetts.

Some campaign workers are less optimistic about that goal.

"I don't think it's necessarily going to happen," said Nader volunteer Steven H. Milder '04, citing Nader's extremely low poll numbers in the South and Midwest.

Mileur said he too is doubtful that Nader and the Green Party will hit the five percent mark, mainly because economic times are good and because differences between the two major parties do, in fact, exist.

And, Mileur said, there is a fundamental hole in Nader's populist strategy.

"The constituency at which [Nader's appeal] is aimed--largely college students--is narrow and, as a notoriously low turnout constituency, not the most promising base for party building," he wrote.

Keaney would argue that ticket sales tell a different story.

"It's not just one group," he said, arguing that all sorts of progressives--from labor groups to Bikes Not Bombs--have lined up behind Nader.

"If you're not a corporate CEO," Keaney said, "he's for you."