I Have No Regrets About My Ralph Nader Vote, Work
While everyone is deciding what to do with their votes this year, let me share some thoughts about the Ralph Nader 2000 campaign effort and what it meant to me.
I’m mainly throwing this together for two reasons: 1) While I no longer get threats or nasty emails about my work for Nader – and after 16 years, that’s a good thing – people are really mistaken about what happened in that campaign and the fact that in many terms, there really isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between most Democrats and Republicans, and 2) Seriously, it’s your vote. Do what you want with it.
I still have no regrets about my Nader vote and campaign work in 2000. It was one of the most incredible three months of my life.
Long story short, at the time, I was working in radio part-time and attempting to get full-time work in community journalism but I couldn’t break in. I had a good resume, clippings, radio demos, etc., but it was tough. Radio programmers didn’t want a free thinker – and certainly one who might defend some liberal and populist policies but wasn’t a “token liberal” or Democrat – and journalism people worried about my past involvement despite my interest in the craft. I was really good at it, it turned out, but after years of toiling, I was going nowhere.
And then, the Nader campaign called and asked if I would be interested in working for them. I didn’t know. While I was happy to help out in the past, trying to get Nader on the ballot in Massachusetts in 1996, and working with the Greens, I didn’t know if politics was my future any longer.
I did send them a resume and a list of all the campaigns and people I had helped – from organizing seven states in 1992 for Jerry Brown, my work with Tom Menino in 1993, a three month paid gig organizing college students for Ted Kennedy in 1994, many other races, and my own campaigns for Boston City Council in the 1990s.
Teresa Amato immediately called me after getting my resume and said, “We want you … pick a state.” I was kinda stunned. I knew that I really couldn’t afford to organize a state without free housing. That meant New Hampshire or southern Florida, where I have family. Both areas, as it turned out, that were some of Nader’s best turnouts. I picked New Hampshire.
And, like I said, it was an amazing time.
The Greens in New Hampshire weren’t really organized at all and the signature drive was in a shambles. But I was able to coordinate a handful of people, including family members, to start going door-to-door with voters lists to ensure we had good signatures. In September, when we handed in all the signatures, we barely made it. I thought for sure someone would go through each sheet to make sure and double-check the town clerk’s approvals. I had seen this in Massachusetts but it never happened.
We held a couple of little protests – calling on the major party officials to let Nader debate – Steve Duprey, in Concord, was smiling when we were protesting outside of the NH GOP HQ on North Main Street in Concord.
I also represented the campaign at a few forums including one where I had to debate Bill Shaheen, the husband of then-governor, now-Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. He was very emotional about everything and I just talked about Nader and how bad Clinton-Gore had been. A number of people after the event said I cleaned his clock but it was a friendly crowd.
While we were getting pilloried behind the scenes, there wasn’t a lot of press about the campaign. A couple of the newspapers asked for quotes and I gave them. When Nader did a swing through the state in October, it got good coverage (see the attached picture, that’s me, in my blue cardigan, with Nader outside of Franklin Pierce Law School in Concord, now UNH Law). The college papers offered great coverage, since we did a bunch of events on campuses, including the cool “Corporate Cleanup Crew” van and natural soap we were handing out. And we got really good play on talk radio, where a number of hosts offered me time to speak about the campaign.
A number of Republican state Representatives endorsed Nader, held campaign events, went door-to-door, and we also had a major supporter of Alan Keyes take on Sullivan County, which was a huge help. Combined with the disorganized, fringy Greens, it was a rag-tag but fun campaign.
I also put together two radio spots for the campaign to use, with the help of recording engineer Bill T. Miller, and cobbled together small donations to purchase ad buys around New Hampshire.
Listen to the Ralph Nader 2000 radio spots below:
I shared the ads with the campaign and not long after that, I received a call from Bill Hillsman of North Woods Advertising, who was doing all of Nader’s ads. He also worked to help get Jesse Ventura elected governor in Minnesota. He said the ads were fantastic but Nader would only use union people for ads. I countered, Well, tell him his paid New Hampshire staffer put together the ads so he doesn’t need to worry about the union dues – he could have them for free. They wouldn’t bite; I counter pleaded – I’ll join the union right now – but they said, No, he only uses union people.
I was disappointed – yeah, my ego got in the way – I wanted the radio ad to get played on radio stations all across America. But the campaign did give me the green light to share the ads with other campaign staffers. All told, 12 state organizers raised money and used the radio spots for small ad buys on their local stations.
There’s so much more to say and share but I want to write a couple of more things and then, move on with life. But, seriously, if you don’t like Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, don’t fear voting for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. In fact, get out there and work for them if you like. It will be life-changing experience. Do what YOU WANT with your vote!
Did Nader really bring on the apocalypse?
With all the fearing going on about the 2016 race and a lot of “We don’t want a Ralph Nader situation again,” I thought I would take a look back for a moment. I remember all the fearing before – and after – the election and it never really came true.
Let’s take a look at the wayback machine, shall we?
First, Sept. 11 probably would have happened either way. Nearly all the Democrats voted for the Afghanistan campaign and the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Nearly all of them voted for the Patriot Act. Some of them voted for the $87 billion before they voted against it. Yes, it was a difficult time, with all the yellow ribbons and such. But remember, those are the times that test the soul. To this day, I remember then-U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-MA, lecturing me and some other newspaper editors (Sidebar: I got hired full-time after the Nader campaign and quit political activity altogether, never looking back) in a news meeting railing on and on about how Saddam was “Hitler incarnate.” We kept telling him – the intelligence is bad, you’re being lied to – but he sloughed us off, we didn’t know what we were talking about, sharing his “lime rickey, you are so sticky,” silly songs, back when he used to deliver ice cream in Medford, his only real job other than being a pol. Right. Oh, and he’s a Senator now.
Social issues? Abortion was legal during all of W’s time as president – with the GOP controlling both Houses of Congress, too, for six of his eight years – and is still legal now. Bill Clinton’s bipartisan Defense of Marriage/anti-gay civil unions/marriage Act? Gone – at the hands of a conservative Supreme Court.
No one drilled in ANWR either during W’s eight years or now.
The Clinton-Sept. 11 recession still would have happened with Gore since it started during the last two quarters of his administration. The housing boom – and collapse – still would have happened because those were created – and stoked – by bipartisan legislation and activity and scumbags on Wall Street who bet on, ahem, fund, both sides.
The Great Recession – again, brought on by bipartisan policies and activity – probably still would have happened, too.
The $1 trillion a year security state would still be in place; and so would the bipartisan, unfunded Medicare Part D benefit which, while helping seniors, is burdening future generations with a mountain of debt.
The only thing that probably wouldn’t have happened is the tax cuts that, despite all the leftwing rancor, benefitted everyone and also, between 2002 and 2007, helped to increase revenue into the federal coffers over revenues that were projected years before the tax cuts. But even after campaigning against the debt created by W, Obama doubled it, adding more debt during his time than all the other presidents combined, with Democrats and Republicans squabbling in Congress.
Speaking of the Great Recession, we still really haven’t come out of it, even after nearly eight years of Obama – the one they sometimes call the Messiah, who was supposed to lead us to the promised land – with Democrats controlling Congress for two of those years, Harry Reid keeping any negotiations with Republicans from happening for four more years, and Paul Ryan taking control of Congress giving the president nearly everything he wanted after promising voters in 2014 that he would fight the president.
In other words, in all honesty, the figureheads in the White House – who often think they aren’t 1/3 but all branches of government – are really meaningless in the scheme of things.
Again, vote for who you want to.
Nader didn’t cost Gore the presidency
Lastly, after 16 years, we really need to put this to bed: Ralph Nader didn’t cost Al Gore the presidency in 2000. If anything, Al Gore cost Ralph Nader and the Greens their 5 percent which would have made them a national party and Bernie Sanders would have probably been its nominee years ago. Here’s the analysis I put together in February 2004 showing that Nader didn’t cost Gore the election: Debunking the Myth. I know facts sometimes get in the way of emotions and political beliefs, but they are what they are. More Democrats voted for Bush than Nader; Gore cost himself the presidency.
None can doubt the veracity of this article.