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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
It's the most divisive issue on the left. But some Greens now say we're in a "national emergency" -- and it's time to join forces with the Democrats to beat Bush.
Apr 23, 2003 | Did Ralph Nader and the Green Party put George W. Bush in the White House in 2000? There's only one more hotly debated question on the American left these days: Will Nader and the Greens do it again in 2004?
Nader, who many Democrats and progressives blame for tipping the last presidential election to Bush in key states like Florida (where Nader won 96,000 votes), has not yet announced his decision about 2004. But according to national Green Party officials, Nader probably will run. "I'm getting that sense," says Ben Manski, one of five national Green Party co-chairs. Juscha Robinson, a member of the party's presidential exploratory committee, agrees: "The co-chairs of the committee met with Ralph a couple weeks ago -- it was a very comfortable discussion. It does look like he's leaning in that direction."
The surprisingly bellicose and hard-right direction of the Bush administration has given many Greens pause about running a third-party presidential campaign next year. One prominent Green Party activist -- journalist and former Nader confidant Ronnie Dugger -- has publicly and privately pleaded with his old friend not to run for president, urging him instead to run for senator or governor. Dugger argues that the extremism of the Bush presidency has created a "national emergency" that requires a unified effort on the left to beat the Republican ticket in 2004.
"What if Nader runs again and gets only a million votes this time, less than [the 2.8 million] he got last time, but still enough to give Bush the election? There will be a widespread revulsion against his campaign -- is that building the Green Party?" asks Dugger. "To elect Bush at a time when he's waging war on the human race, that to me is insane. The Greens would be denying their moral responsibility for this disastrous outcome. If Ralph runs again and tips it for Bush, it would not only be a worldwide tragedy, the prospect of building the Green Party would be radically doomed."
Nader did not respond to Salon's requests for an interview. But longtime Green Party organizers say he has not been swayed by those who have pleaded with him to abandon his presidential ambitions. "Ralph has been committed to the third-party strategy since the 1950s," says Howie Hawkins, who has been active in the Green Party since 1984 and who ran unsuccessfully on the Green ticket for New York state comptroller in 2002. "He's congenitally unintimidated. The Gore campaign came to him and said, 'Drop out and we'll make sure your organizations get funded. If not, we'll smash you.' It was just like the Mafia. But it just strengthened his resolve."
If Nader surprises Green Party officials and decides against another run, they are still prepared to mount a presidential campaign without him. Last summer, the party's presidential exploratory committee asked state party organizations for their candidate recommendations. Based on the states' responses, the exploratory committee sent out letters to 40 prospective candidates and began discussions with them to gauge their interest. According to Manski, the state organizations ranked Nader as their No. 1 choice, former Democratic congresswoman Cynthia McKinney No. 2, and Global Exchange founder and 2000 California Green Party candidate for Senate Medea Benjamin. Filmmaker Michael Moore also made the list.
"Nader doesn't have it locked up," insists the 28-year-old Manski, who worked on the staff of Nader 2000 and is studying law at the University of Wisconsin. Robinson agrees: "We had a great partnership with Ralph in 2000. But there's a feeling among some people that it's time to look for new faces. Even if he decides he wants it, he won't necessarily get it. It's a sign of the Greens' growing sophistication, that there are people willing to challenge him."
But other Greens point out there are no presidential prospects in the party who have Nader's financial clout and national recognition. "No one's in his league," says Hawkins. "He's been on the road since the 1960s. He raised $8 million in 2000. Who else can do that?"
No other Green candidate could hurt the Democrats as much, either. Which is why former supporters like Dugger, who presented Nader at the Green Party conventions that nominated him in 1996 and 2000, are working hard to convince him to back a progressive Democrat in 2004. "The only vehicle to defeat Bush next year is the Democratic Party -- you start there, or you don't start with reality," says Dugger. "Not running a Green candidate for president does not mean abandoning party building, as I've told people like Medea. That's denying the history of the Green Party in Europe -- they built their party by running for local offices, and now they have power at the cabinet level in countries like Germany."
Dugger argued his position at the Cooper Union in New York last month, joining forces with writer Katha Pollitt and historian Lawrence Goodwyn to debate Howie Hawkins and writer Jeff Gates over the Nader 2004 question. He says he left the event feeling very discouraged. "We were just ships passing each other in the night without even feeling each other's ripples -- we simply talked right past each other. The other side was fixed on berating the Democrats with excessive zeal, while we were trying vainly to root the discussion in the political reality of defeating Bush.
"This is the most emotionally ragged fissure in the American left in my lifetime," says the veteran populist organizer, who founded the Texas Observer. "It's an astonishing split and it's very deep."
