Shop Talk

Will Nader run again? George Will wonders:

Ralph Nader must be smiling, in his dour way, now that Dean is saying Kerry is a “Republican,” “Bush Lite,” “no different” than Bush in being “a handmaiden to special interests,” is making “crazy” promises of tax cuts and spending increases, and is “a Washington insider who shifts back and forth with every poll,” exemplifying “exactly what’s wrong with American politics.” Dean, sinking with his guns blazing, is providing a pretext — and a cadre — for another run by Nader (or a kindred spirit), whose 2000 candidacy prevented Al Gore from winning.

Third-party runs are always the Great Unknown in American presidential politics. Last year, I said that if Nader ran, he’d garner less support than he did in 2000.

But he has a Dean-energized base to play on, and John Kerry to carp about…

…well, that’s a whole other story.