Green Party protests exclusion from St. Louis debate

Nader didn't get in. \nDespite the efforts of hundreds of chanting, banner-waving protesters, Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader didn't get his chance to debate with Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush. \nHe didn't even make it into the "town hall" where the debate was held, despite rumors that a student who had won a seat in the lottery would give Nader the spot.\nBut Nader was present in St. Louis Tuesday, and he made his presence known late that afternoon in a rally just off the Washington University campus, on the sunken, oak-lined turf of North Moore Park. The rally drew several hundred supporters, many of whom wore bandannas around their heads, faces, and arms as signs of solidarity.\nBen Strobel, a former Evansville resident, drove 12 hours from his Minneapolis home to take part in the day's festivities. Strobel said he supports Nader because the candidate advocates equality among people of all classes and a general end to violence.\nSocio-economic class awareness was one of the main issues discussed Tuesday, as Nader chided Gore and Bush for succumbing to corporate pressures and interests.\n"No soft money...zero!" Nader promised. Nader, a long-time consumer rights advocate, has made campaign finance reform a major platform. He urged his audience to vote out politicians who accept corporate money. \n"Both parties are complacent in the corruption of elections. They've all flunked and need to be replaced," said Nader.\nEarlier in the day Green party members assembled in a parking lot two blocks from Grace United Methodist Church near campus to make signs and prepare first aid kits in case of an encounter with police after the rally. Action groups ranging from Amnesty International to Jobs with Justice to End the Drug War gathered and found that despite the variety of causes they embrace, they seemed to all "gel."\nBrent Woodcock, 29, sat with four other protesters making anti-tear gas first aid kids. \n"Look around," he said. "All these groups here...we've known each other maybe two days, or a few hours, but we're all working together"