It's more than schadenfreude though I'll confess to laughter at Democrat electoral problems. But it is more, because the Ds have built a constituency around the hard-left. I think they need the Bush=Hitler, "No Blood For Oil" crowd. Senator Kerry has the unenviable task of keeping the Deniacs and courting the Liebermaniacs (I hoped I might have coined that term -- no, 87 Yahoo hits, including "The Nation").
Of course, hate will find a way (18 hits, but Silence quoting me is number 9) and he can count on all the anti-Bush vote, right? Wrong. As I've said, Boulder is known for a high concentration of lefties and though the Kerry stickers are starting to bloom around here, it's clear Mr. Nader will get a good percentage of this county with his "end corporate rule, reclaim our democracy" pitch.
Kim Strassel at the WSJ Political Diary claims this is not going unnoticed in DCC land:
The anti-Ralph-Nader movement continues to grow, both in size and apoplexy. A group called the Nader Factor (a brainchild of former campaign aides to Howard Dean, Richard Gephardt and Wesley Clark) kicked off TV ads in Wisconsin and New Mexico a few weeks back, advising voters to give Mr. Nader the heave-ho. Organizations such a StopNader.com and United Progressives for Victory are organizing Internet campaigns and grassroots meetings to stymie the former Green candidate. And at least one group of Democratic lawyers is assembling election experts to pick through Mr. Nader's attempts to get on state ballots.As for the apoplexy, you could all but feel the panic roll over these committed saboteurs last week when news broke that some polls had Mr. Nader at 7% of the vote nationally (in 2000 he got less than 3%).
Can anyone say forest and trees? That Mr. Nader was the "spoiler" who cost the Democrats the last election has always been a fancy myth to swallow. What lost 2000 for Al Gore was his own limp candidacy and Bill Clinton's impeachment legacy. Maybe Mr. Gore would have won if Mr. Nader hadn't run in Florida (or maybe not). But Mr. Gore would certainly have won if he'd managed to persuade even his home state of Tennessee to go his way. Nor can it be a bullish sign for Mr. Kerry that his supporters seem to believe that convincing voters not to support Mr. Nader is a better use of their time than trying to persuade them to admire Mr. Kerry.
As of today, Ralph Nader is on exactly zero state ballots. He bombed out in Oregon and Texas. He seems unlikely to collect the necessary 100,000-plus signatures in North Carolina. His May 13 endorsement by the Reform Party reportedly would get him on the ballot in seven states, though the number may be closer to three. Meanwhile, Mr. Nader said he won't accept the Green nomination, even though that would get him on as many as 23 state ballots. Unable to find anyone else who rocks their boat, the Greens may endorse Mr. Nader anyway at their convention in Milwaukee later this month. If so, will Mr. Nader turn them down? The answer probably depends on whether his own faltering ballot campaign has picked up steam by then. If not, expect anti-Nader hit squads to ramp up a major effort to keep the Greens out of the Nader fold.