For that matter, no Nader backers I met even framed their decision as a choice between Nader and Bush. "Before he [Nader] announced, I was for anyone but Bush," said Steven Schade, a high school student from Andover, Mass., who plans to attend college in Florida next fall. "After he announced, I was for no one but Nader." And Nader makes it clear that his current rapprochement with Kerry could be temporary. "Right now, if you'll notice, I am urging things on John Kerry," Nader told me. "If weeks go by, two months go by and there's no response, the urging will turn to criticism."

Still, it seems likely that a significant chunk of Nader's support has not been wrestled away from Kerry directly, but is "a real mix," as Nader says. "These are not pure, normal Democrats," said Pete Ellner, a Connecticut Green Party member who organizes meetings of Nader backers. "I can best characterize them as Perot voters." (Numerous Nader backers also told me they wanted to limit free trade.) In 2000, the Voter News Service's national exit poll showed that 47 percent of Nader voters would have voted for Gore, 21 percent would have voted for Bush -- they're out there somewhere -- but fully a third would not have supported either.

This limits the number of Naderites who might throw votes Kerry's way in a close election. "I don't think I've ever voted for a winning presidential candidate in my life," said Michael Richardson, Nader's Massachusetts ballot-petition coordinator. Many of these people are not in the habit of voting pragmatically.

And then there are people who simply say Nader is the best man for the job. Alan DiCara, a longtime Connecticut activist and what you might call a Friend of Ralph, told me he favors a "Nader-Kerry fusion" ticket on the Democratic line: Nader as president, Kerry as vice president. And why would John Kerry accept this arrangement? "John Kerry has a great deal of respect for Ralph, as he should, because Ralph, after all, went to Harvard Law School and Princeton, and knows a lot more than Kerry ever will about corporations, the rule of law, the history of our government, and how things work in Washington, in the Beltway."

Beyond Nader's loyalists, however, it's unclear just how much backing for his candidacy remains intact in 2004. "Half of democracy is just showing up," Nader likes to say, but few supporters are doing that so far. In Canton, for example, about 60 people turned out -- but most were kids brought in from a school across the street. Four years ago, Nader held "Super Rallies" at places like Madison Square Garden and the Oakland Coliseum en route to his 2.7 percent showing. His retail campaigning in 2004 is nowhere near that level yet.

Those who do attend a Nader event often get a short, vigorous talk -- on Iraq, corporate reform, or political reform -- followed by a longer question-and-answer session. Nader speeds through his points without the carefully placed applause lines of most political speeches. Intriguingly, the event I saw where Nader seemed most engaged with his audience did not feature potential voters: A discussion in Hartford with students hoping to become journalists. "How many of you want to be leaders of the future?" Nader asked them at one point. Only one tiny girl raised her hand. Nader sized up the situation for a few seconds. "Does that mean the rest of you want to be followers?" he asked, eliciting giggles, and softening the mood, before launching into an earnest monologue on the importance of idealism.

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