This weekend, Ralph Nader announced on Meet the Press that he will run for president for the fifth time, as the Green party candidate. Nader was never much of a threat to candidates in past elections, and while bloggers agree that he has no chance of winning, they disagree about how his run will affect the race. If Nader’s run affects the race at all, bloggers say, it will hurt the Democrats. Abe Greenwald at Contentions says, “The Democrats’ change mantra, pacifist imaginings, demand for universal healthcare, anti-lobbyist fervor, environmental hysteria, and young voter turnout all spell good news for Nader…If Nader’s 2.7 percent of the national vote was enough to douse Al Gore in 2000, things could get interesting.” Joe Gandelman at the Moderate Voice says that although Nader faces a different political landscape this year, “the most he will gain in 2008 would indeed be siphoning-off Democratic votes if it’s a razor-thin-victory-margin election.” And it seems that Nader would hurt Hillary more than Obama. Captain Ed tells us that while Nader “took more than the gap between George Bush and Al Gore in Florida” in 2000, “the Naderites of 2000 have aligned themselves enthusiastically with Barack Obama. Having Nader attack him from the Left won’t hurt Obama’s prospects in the middle.” Allahpundit adds, “Nader won’t do a lick of damage to Obama, who’s liberal enough to please all but the greenest greens and charismatic enough to make Nader seem decrepit by comparison. He’d be dangerous for Hillary, though.” Evidence? Shortly after his announcement, the Politico reported that Hillary “slammed” Nader, calling his run “a passing fancy.” Obama, meanwhile, is “not concerned,” the WSJ Washington Wire reported. Still, other bloggers say his run is meaningless. John Hinderaker doesn’t buy that Nader could help Republicans. He does the vote math and concludes, “many things could happen between now and November to tilt the landscape in the Republicans’ favor. But Ralph Nader’s candidacy is far down on the list.” Lefty bloggers like Pat Paulsen at American Prospect‘s Tapped say his bid is a farce, and the Atlantic‘s James Fallows–who knows Nader personally and likes and respects him–says, “it suggests detachment from political reality…and, worse, narcissism. The fact that it won’t make any difference in the outcome actually is sad.” But you have to wonder: Are Democrats just a little bit worried?
