Nader looking to gain a piece of the political pie

With the election less than a day away, the presidential candidates are pushing as hard as they can to get their platforms out to the undecided voters. One candidate that has gotten attention is Green Party candidate Ralph Nader. Seen as a potential threat to the Gore campaign, Nader has controlled as much as 5 percent of the vote, according to the Gallup poll. But are Nader's numbers enough to seriously derail the Gore campaign? Graduate student Chris Stafford, campus coordinator for the Green Party, doesn't think so. He said that most states are nonbattle states -- including Indiana -- where it is assumed the state will nominate a certain candidate because there has been an established pattern of voting for one party or another. "The polls I have seen that show a difference between Bush and Gore is larger than the percentage of the vote Nader holds," Stafford said. "Every Nader supporter is not coming from a potential Gore supporter. Many supporters are coming from those who don't vote." Stafford said he thought the assessment of Nader as the threat to the Gore campaign was a misnomer. "Gore has done so poorly lately, I think the assignment of a spoiler on Nader is wrong," Stafford said. College Democrats Vice-President April Gonzales agrees, but she thinks since Nader has a slim chance at victory, he should throw his support behind the Gore campaign. "Obviously, Nader is not going to win the presidency," Gonzalez said, "but the Green Party can have a voice through Gore. If you look at the Green Party and the Democratic Party, their platforms are similar on a lot of issues." Gonzales said the best action for Nader is to concede his votes to Gore, who should pay attention to the Nader's supporters. Gonzales said she thought the idea behind nonbattle states was superficial. "I think there was some merit (to that idea) in the past, but look at the leadership now," Gonzalez said, citing Democratic Gov. Frank O'Bannon and Democrat Sen. Evan Bayh as examples. "I definitely would say Indiana is a conservative state, but that does not mean we are Republican anymore." Stafford said the bigger issue at stake for the Green Party is generating 5 percent of the popular vote. If the Green Party can do that, the federal government will match the funds it spends on campaigns. The Republican, Democratic and Reform parties have these federal matching funds, which help candidates pay for television advertisements and other campaign expenses. These funds allow them to get more exposure, which can hinder third-party campaigns. Political science professor John Williams said although the federal matching funds will increase the Green Party's exposure, it will not make it a contender. "Even the best third party movements have not done well," Williams said. "If the Green Party gets these federal matching funds, they will get the money in 2004 to do what (Reform candidate Pat) Buchannan is doing now, and you will hear Ralph Nader on the radio instead of Pat Buchanan." Williams said it would take a major issue to propel a third party into the winner-takes-all two party system. He said the last issue to do this was slavery, and for a third party to be effective it would have to take over either the Democrat or Republican Party. "For there to be a real movement where the Green Party would take over one of the major parties, there would have to be a major environmental problems." Regardless of the outcome of the election, Stafford said he thinks Nader's contribution to the electoral process will be great. "People will look back and say this is when progressive politics really came into our system," he said. "Part of the reason people don't vote is that there is only one message coming out. Maybe if the Democrats can see that their base has gone to the left, the Democrats would go back to progressive politics." Both the College Democrats and IU Greens have campaign activities going on until the election. Check out www.indiana.edu/~iudems or www.indiana.edu/~iugreens for more information.