"I've decided to run as an independent candidate."
With that, Ralph Nader, Mr. Anti-Establishment, Mr. Consumer Advocate, Mr. I Gave Bush the White House in 2000, announced his presidential bid.
What's it all mean? We have no idea. So we asked around:
Political consultant Dan Hart: It's ill-advised, ego-driven and not in the best interest of progressives, who he purports to represent. That said, it will have far less effect on the election than he had last time [in 2000 as a Green Party candidate, he got less than 3 percent of the votes]. The Democratic Party is united in opposition to George Bush, and the Democratic nominee will be the best vehicle to express that. In this election season, you're seeing that electability and viability are utmost in voters' minds, and I don't see Ralph Nader meeting those criteria.
Political consultant Terry Murphy: I think it sucks. Any opportunity to get somebody other than George Bush, probably John Kerry, is diminished by someone else getting in the race. His votes would have been votes for John Kerry or whoever the Democratic nominee is. For someone with Nader's interest, you'd think he'd want to get Bush out of office.
Nevada Democratic Party spokesman Jon Summers: It just seems selfish; everyone agrees that Bush needs to be kicked out of the White House. Doing a disservice by siphoning off votes from our Democratic candidate who can actually beat Bush. He stands up for a lot of the same things Democrats fight for. He'd be doing a much greater service if he worked alongside the Democratic Party, instead of working against us.
Yier Shi, western regional press secretary for the Republican National Committee: The fact is the RNC never anticipated him being in the race, but it doesn't really make a difference to us. We will focus on the president and his strong and principled leadership, his strong agenda and the benefit of his policies—that's where we are going to make the case, regardless of who emerges as the Democratic nominee and regardless of who emerges as a third-party nominee. Everybody who is on the ballot will be on our radar, but they won't have a significant impact on the race the president is running.
Independent American Party of Nevada Executive Director Janine Hansen: Very difficult to get on the ballot when you are an Independent candidate. In many states, he won't even be on the ballot. Because of that, he won't be much competition from anyone. Secondly, he will draw votes away from the Democrat. His agenda would not appeal to the people voting for our presidential candidate, Michael Peroutka. We don't anticipate it will make any difference to us. His entrance will make things more interesting. Unlike the Democrats and Republicans, third-party candidates talk about the issues.
Ernest Walker, vice chairman of the Libertarian Party of Washoe County (local party executives failed to return calls for comment): He certainly has a right to run, it makes the race that much more interesting. The Libertarian Party is going to have its convention later on this year and we're going to add a certain amount of angst to the Bush campaign.
Clark County Green Party representatives failed to return calls for comment.