Exclusive Interview: Nader Responds to 'Spoiler' Claim

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader announced last week that he is running for president, immediately raising the question: Could he be blamed, once again, for spoiling the race for the Democrats? Some still hold him responsible for Al Gore's loss in 2000. U.S News spoke with Nader about his motivations, goals, and whether he considers himself a spoiler. Listen now or download iTunes and RSS.

Why did you decide to enter the presidential race?
Because there are too many necessities of the American people that are being opposed or ignored by the major candidates in the Democrat and Republican parties... They are opposed to a single-payer health insurance [and] Medicare for all, which is supported by the majority of the American people. They are opposed to cutting the huge bloated military budget, which now consumes half of the federal government's operating expenditures, and there's no more Soviet Union. They are opposed to cracking down on the corporate crime wave that has drained and taken trillions of dollars in the last 10 years from pension holders, investors, and workers.... That's just a set of examples of why I am running.

Why launch your campaign now, and not months ago?
I had a "testing the waters" exploratory period, as the phrase goes, to see whether there were enough volunteers and enough funds. We don't take commercial funds. We don't take political action committee funds. We only accept funds from individuals, and I must say they're coming in very nicely since I announced.... We had a positive reaction from many working people all over the country.

How would you describe those supporters?
Well, it's interesting. There are a significant number of conservatives who support us. They don't like the Patriot Act, the restriction on privacy and civil liberty. They don't like waste in government. They don't like NAFTA and WTO as reducing our national sovereignty impermissibly. They don't like a lot of the things that liberals don't like. There's actually a liberal-conservative convergence going on among more and more people.

Of course, [supporters also include] progressive people like us. I have fought for 40 years for progressive causes, for health and safety regulation, the auto industry, food industry, drinking water safety laws.... People who think corporations should be our servants, not our masters, they like what we're doing.

Speaking of that two-party system, if you are once again considered a "spoiler," and the cause of the Democrats' losing the election, would you regret running?
That's a politically bigoted mind-set that we have to challenge because if everyone in our country has an equal right under our Constitution to run for election, nobody is a spoiler. Unless all of us are considered spoilers because we're trying to get votes from one another.

I think Mayor Bloomberg put it very well yesterday when he was asked by reporters about my candidacy. He said, "Of course he's got a right to run. What is this that only members of the two parties can run?" He made a very interesting comment: In any three-corner race, two people end up spoilers, don't they. I think he made a very good point for freedom, diversity, choice. We all have to recognize: This isn't about candidates first and foremost, it's about the voters, and we should never have laws that obstruct voters from having their free choice of candidates.

Would you consider only putting your name on the ballot in states that are not considered swing states so you couldn't be blamed for losing the election for Democrats?
No. That's disrespecting voters in the other states. I don't play that game. We're running a 50-state campaign.

If you weren't in the race, whom would you most like to see win?
Well, I think they are all corporate candidates, so I would like to see anyone else win who is not a corporate candidate, and of course that means I would like to see me win. Now, I know that the system is triple-rigged against small party independent candidates, but you have to keep pushing, and keep pushing, and keep pushing, year after year, and, as our history at its highest moments has demonstrated, the breakthrough will eventually come. We'll have a multiparty system, we'll have proportional representation, and public funding of public campaigns.