Bird Flu. This was Ralph Nader’s response to Bill Maher’s inquiry, “What issues do you deal with that [other candidates] don’t?” The bird flu. I think it’s safe to say: Ralph Nader truly understands the American voter.

Although no one’s perception of themself perfectly reflects the world’s, I wonder who Nader thinks he is? Apparently, he thinks he is an electable (or why else would he run) radical. Unfortunately, like reality, he is not in touch with history. The only truly radical candidate that has ever been elected president was Abraham Lincoln. Nader is no Abraham Lincoln. Nader is not a brilliant writer; he’s not an emotionally moving orator. He’s not even very tall.

Comparing Nader to Lincoln might seem unfair, ridiculous, or even insane. Nader did it first (www.votenader.com). Nader supporters argue that he does not think he can win; he simply wants enough votes, 5%, to gain federal financial support for a third party. This is complete nonsense, because Nader is not affiliated with any third party for this election. Any aid will go to Nader in 2008, when he’s 74-sorry Ralph you’re no Reagan either. I bring all of this up because of the hooting and hollering concerning Nader’s announced candidacy. People-of the West Coast and Northeast-are afraid that Nader will again be the spoiler. They fear Kerry will lose necessary votes to Nader, giving Bush an advantage in certain states; they fear people will vote their conscience. This is an unfounded fear. As mentioned above, Nader is no longer affiliated with the Green Party as he was in 2004. This means that he does not have an already organized group of supporters in each state. Although there are many months before the election, Nader will surely not fulfill all of the requirements needed to get on the ballot in every state. This is the most important difference between now and four years ago-Nader will not be able to affect the votes in most states. Nader will no longer affect the liberal “conscience” vote, as he did in 2000. Such a large contingent of Americans have become so disgusted by our president that only a vote for Kerry will ensure a clean conscience. Kerry will not lose much (if any) of the liberal vote to Nader. Kerry will, however, gain some of the moderate Republican population support by Nader’s presence in the race. If one examines John Kerry’s senate voting record they will see that he is extremely (in the popular definition) liberal. But everything is relative. When policy positions of the three major candidates are examined, Kerry will come across much more moderate than history has shown him to be. He will appeal to a larger segment of voters. Now, of course, I could be wrong. It is possible that more Americans, than I imagined, want a president who really shakes things up, who affects change, who cares about real issues like…the bird flu. Or maybe not.