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Opinion: Ralph Nader again, now that name rings a bell

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Happy New Year!

Speaking of party time, former and possibly future presidential candidate Ralph Nader rang in the new year by sending an angry e-mail to reporters. Isn’t that what everyone does to start a new 12-month cycle?

Nader was blasting (Nader and blasting seem to go together, don’t they?) Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton over her fundraising. Then, Nader said in a follow-up interview that he might run for president again in 2008.

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Nader’s e-mail, co-signed by Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and former San Francisco supervisor Matt Gonzalez, says: ‘Do you really believe if we replace a bunch of corporate Republicans with a bunch of corporate Democrats that anything meaningful is going to change? This has to stop. It’s that simple.’

Reached on the phone later by The Times’ Dan Morain, Nader lauded (Nader lauding?) John Edwards for his presidential campaign, saying the former senator is using the opportunity to talk tough about corporate abuses. But Nader also left open the possibility that he would run again himself, saying he would be making the decision in about a month. Possibly good New Year’s news for beleaguered Republicans.

Nader angered many Democrats by mounting a Green Party candidacy in 2000, siphoning votes from Al Gore and helping to create the eight-year George W. Bush presidency.

“Hillary Clinton is an unacceptable candidate to large numbers of independents, Democrats and third party members,” the Nader e-mail said. “ … If Hillary Clinton prevails, millions of Americans will look elsewhere for change, or stay home.

“It’s that simple,” the missive said.

Then, it ended with, “Happy New Year.”

--Andrew Malcolm

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