Rohan Pearce
Opinion polls show that the US is almost evenly split on the issue of whether the Iraq war was worth fighting. You would expect, given this, that a candidate clearly opposed to the war would be getting considerable support, at least from the anti-war movement. Given that President George Bush and his Democratic Party challenger John Kerry both support the occupation of Iraq, the clear anti-war ticket in this election is the independent Ralph Nader-Peter Camejo ticket.
However, presidential contender Nader and his running-mate, vice-presidential candidate Camejo, a prominent member of the Green Party, have suffered a vicious campaign of smears and intimidation — with some of the worst offenders being ostensibly "progressive" anti-war activists.
US presidential elections are conducted using a non-preferential voting system. Unlike in Australia, voters can't order candidates in their order of preference. If their candidate of choice gets a low vote, then their votes are discarded as the candidate is eliminated. Those who vote for Nader, will not be able to influence a Bush vs Kerry contest.
The system discourages third party challenges to the dominance of the capitalist Democrat and Republican parties. Voters are encouraged, and intimidated, to vote for the "lesser evil" — candidates they disagree with. Without a concerted effort to break with this, the corporate parties retain their stranglehold.
This time around, the campaign has been unprecedented. NotNader.com, StopNader.com, TheNaderFactor.com, RepentantNaderVoter.com, Vote2StopBush.com, NoNader.org, ChangeIn04.com ("Greens for Kerry"), TheUnityCampaign.org ("Progressives UNITED to beat Bush"), BlameItOnNader.com, SayNoToNader.com, No2Nader.com, RalphDontRun.net, DontVoteRalph.net, RalphNadir.com — websites dedicated to the assault on Nader and Camejo's decision to run in the election — are testament to the vicious "Anybody but Bush" (ABB) campaign run by the liberal left.
DemocracyMeansYou.com will sell you a campaign badge with the slogan "Real Greens say: Fuck Nader 2004". Even the wankers at MasturbateForPeace.com have withdrawn their endorsement of Nader.
The ABB proponents claim that evicting Bush from the White House (i.e., installing Kerry instead) is of vital importance and that Nader will "take votes away from Kerry". Although many of the ABBers claim to oppose the occupation of Iraq, and Kerry's other right-wing, pro-corporate policies, they advocate a vote for him.
The ABB campaign has the support of a number of well-known left wingers, many of whom backed Nader's presidential campaign in 2000, including Michael Moore, Howard Zinn and Norman Solomon. These supposedly anti-war celebrities, whether intentionally or not, have provided cover to a dirty tricks campaign run by the Democratic Party to keep Nader off the ballot in as many states as possible.
Despite frequent legal challenges by Democratic Party lawyers, as of October 26 the Nader-Camejo ticket has qualified to be on the ballot in 35 states (although only by accepting the endorsement of far-right parties). In 2000, the Nader ticket appeared on the ballot in 43 states. According to the Los Angeles Times, even in some of the states where the ticket has managed to qualify "some legal battles will continue beyond the election". While the ABB brigade was happy to make up their own minds to vote for Kerry, they don't want people to have the option to make the same decision and choose Nader.
Thanks to the pressure of the campaign by Kerry's "progressive" cheerleaders, Nader's campaign is unlikely to receive the level of support that it did in 2000. In 2000, nader's campaign was the most significant third party campaign in decades, and scared the bejesus out of the corporate duopoly. This time, the ABB has provided a perfect excuse to ensure the Democratic Party regains its death-grip on the progressive scene.
In a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted July 22-25, 25% of respondents had a "favourable impression" of Nader, however at the time support for the Nader-Camejo ticket was only running at 3%.
In 2000, running as the Green Party's endorsed candidate with environmentalist Winona LaDuke as his running-mate, Nader received 2,882,955 votes — about 2.74% of the vote. Opinion polls show that the Nader-Camejo ticket is polling 1-2% among registered voters nationally.
In some places, however, the campaign's support is significantly higher. In the District of Columbia, Nader has around 6% support. In Alaska, a September poll put Nader's support at 5% (compared to 30% for Kerry). In Connecticut, the ticket's support is 4% according to a poll conducted in late September. On Rhode Island, a September poll showed 4% support.
Unfortunately, the ABBers' scare campaign will no doubt eat into this support by polling day. But even so, in the 2000 election, 1% support nationwide would have been the equivalent of 1,054,051 votes — hopefully more than a million people will prove willing to reject the shrill protestations of Kerry's dupes and vote for an anti-war candidate.
From Green Left Weekly, November 3, 2004.
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