Nader vows to carry on campaign
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
Say what you will about independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, there's one thing most everyone can agree on:
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
He's stubborn.
Ellen Cachola, left, of Kaimuki, hands presidential candidate Ralph Nader a book for his signature at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.
No amount of begging, shouting, hand-wringing, or cajoling from Democrats who fear he'll do in 2004 what they think he did in 2000 — namely, get George W. Bush elected — has caused him to budge in his bid for the presidency.
Nader — who's mad at Republican power-mongering in general and Democrat "dirty tricks" in particular — visited Hawai'i yesterday, a state that's crawling with Democrats, and, ever since Gov. Linda Lingle was elected, an increasingly vocal number of Republicans.
As always, Nader was as unrepentant as he was unflappable. Asked if he'd consider dropping out, Nader told a University of Hawai'i Art Auditorium crowd of more than 250, "Of course not." Instead, he invited the Democratic standard bearer to win by championing Nader's own causes.
"I will say it once again to John Kerry: Pick up some of our issues." Nader said. "We have no patent on them. They are on our Web site, votenader.org."
With time before the election running short, Bush and Kerry running neck and neck, and Nader holding a potential outcome-tilting vote margin, some Democrats have hit the panic button at the same time some Republicans are said to be mailing Nader campaign contributions.
Most consider him a spoiler — a role he acts as if he relishes.
"Everyone has the right to run for election in this country," he said. "We're all trying to get votes from one another. Either we're all spoilers, or none of us are spoilers."
For the record, Nader says not many Republicans are really contributing to his campaign, and at any rate, "90 percent of our criticism is aimed at George Bush."
Yesterday, though, to kick off his drive to get the 3,800 signatures necessary to be on Hawai'i ballots, Nader was more of an equal opportunity critic. He rattled off a near nonstop barrage of Bush/Kerry comparisons, calling the two-party system in American a decadent, corrupt dictatorship that has sold its collective soul to corporate interests.
Nader got applause when he said what this country urgently needs is universal health coverage and a living family wage.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
Many in the crowd responded favorably to Nader's thoughts on the war in Iraq.
Ralph Nader told a University of Hawai'i-Manoa audience yesterday he would not consider dropping out of the presidential race.
"George W. Bush and John Kerry are pro-war," he said. "They are for staying the course. John Kerry wants more troops there, and he says he can't promise that he'll bring back the troops by the end of his first term."
Nader, the anti-war candidate, would end the occupation and withdraw the troops.
"Once you have a withdrawal and introduce modest peacekeeping forces for the interim, and once you have internationally supervised elections so that the Iraqi people will not feel they are being subjected to a puppet government, the mass of the Iraqi people will separate themselves from the insurgents," he said.
Among those who were impressed with Nader was Rena Montero of Mo'ili'ili. She said she went into the auditorium with the attitude that she'd vote for Kerry simply because she strongly opposes Bush's re-election. Still, she was curious about Nader's positions.
"Everything he said was right on with the way I think," Montero said. "I now think it's more important to vote for someone who is addressing the issues you feel strongly about. I'd like to hear more about what the other candidates say before I make up my mind. But if the election were today, I'd vote for Nader."
Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
