Ralph Nader campaigning for presidency by Zuzana Moravcova

The 74-year-old Ralph Nader, who yesterday became candidate in the United States presidential election, does not see himself as a spoiler candidate, claiming his campaign would be better than the one in 2004, when he got just 0.3 per cent of the vote, standing as an independent. "This time we're ready for them," he said, and added that the electorate will not vote for a "pro-war John McCain," whom he described as a candidate for "perpetual war." He said he welcomed the support of Republican conservatives "who don't like the war in Iraq, who don't like taxpayer dollars wasted, and who don't like the Patriot Act and who treasure their rights of privacy." Nader thinks many people are disilusioned with the Democratic and Republican parties due to a shaky economy and a prolonged Iraq war. He said that tax and other corporate-friendly policies under the Bush administration are responsible for many lower- and middle-class people who are left in debt. "You take that framework of people feeling locked out, shut out, marginalized, disrespected. You go from Iraq, to Palestine/Israel, from Enron to Wall Street, from Katrina to the bungling of the Bush administration, to the complicity of the Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax cuts," he said. Areas of particular concern to Nader are consumer rights, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government. Recently, he said he will decide in the coming days whether to run as an independent, Green Party candidate or in some other third party. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a democratic candidate, called Nader's announcement a 'passing fancy.' "Obviously, it's not helpful to whomever our Democratic nominee is. But it's a free country,"she said. However, Nader's presidential campaign is supported by the former Arkansas governor. "I think it always would probably pull votes away from the Democrats, not the Republicans," he said on CNN.

by Zuzana Moravcova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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