The latest development in this year’s ongoing soap-opera—the presidential election, is the emergence of consumer advocate Ralph Nader, an also ran from the past four presidential elections. He is running as a third-party candidate in the current race. He has about as much chance as Ron Paul, but since he will siphon off votes from the Democrats, I have no objections to his making an effort. Many Democrats still blame him for costing Al Gore the presidency in 2000.

 Nader doesn’t think his candidacy will take much away from the Democrats this time around. He said, “If the Democrats can't landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, [and] emerge in a different form. You think the American people are going to vote for a pro-war John McCain who almost gives an indication he's the candidate for perpetual war?" If he isn’t taking away from the Democrats and he absolutely won’t take a vote from the Republicans, one wonders why then is he running? John McCain, 71, can now say that he isn’t the oldest candidate since Nader is no spring chicken at 73.

Nader says he isn’t a spoiler, which of course he is. In 2000, he got 2.47% of the popular vote. If those votes had gone to Gore, then Bush would have lost. This time Nader says, “…he is running to draw attention to issues ignored by the major candidates in both parties: corporate crime, worker rights, military spending and foreign policy. You take that framework of people feeling locked out, shut out, marginalized and disrespected," he said. "You go from Iraq, to Palestine to Israel, from Enron to Wall Street, from Katrina to the bumbling of the Bush administration, to the complicity of the Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax cuts." He is likely to attract the same leftist kooks and perpetual malcontents who voted for him in the past 4 presidential elections.

His opponent’s view of having a new guy in the race is about what one would expect. Republicans are pleased and the Democrats are seething, but have refrained publicly from saying that they wish he would just go away.

 In 2004, he got less than 1% of the vote. This time around he probably won’t have the support he’s enjoyed in previous elections. Left wing crazies, socialists, communists and ordinary Democrats have already cast their lot with either the Clinton machine or have been mesmerized by the sweeping but empty oratory of Obama. His Green Party has been all but pushed aside by the growing Global Warming fraud and he hasn’t been turning up on the TV political shows in quite some time. He’s probably missing the limelight.

It’s my guess that Nader went into this election to prove, at least to himself, that he’s still relevant. If you are old enough, you may remember when Nader first appeared on the national scene in 1965 with his attack on the short-lived Chevrolet Corvair and the book that condemned it, Unsafe at any speed. Since then he has written a score of books on a variety of themes, most of them bellyaching about corporations, products, political parties and the government. He is flattered to be called “An unreasonable man.” I don’t think either Clinton or Obama would argue about that.

Apart from anything else, I see Nader’s entry into the race as a sort of comic relief.  Name calling between the two Democrats has become a bit tiresome—and predictable. I’ll enjoy hearing Nader complain that Clinton and Obama are way too far to the right.