NADER ANNOUNCES EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

ABC - Ralph Nader has formed a presidential exploratory committee, and
said in an interview that he will launch another presidential bid if
he's convinced he can raise enough money to appear on the vast majority
of state ballots this fall.

Nader, who ran as an independent candidate in each of the past three
presidential elections, told ABC News that he will run in 2008 if he is
convinced over the next month that he would be able to raise $10 million
over the course of the campaign attract enough lawyers willing to work
free of charge to get his name on state ballots.

Nader said he filed papers with the Federal Election Commission and
launched a Web site after Dennis Kucinich, a liberal Ohio congressman,
announced his decision to withdraw from the presidential race last week.


He was set to announce that he had formed an exploratory committee, even
before former Sen. John Edwards made it known that he'd be ending his
candidacy. But with Edwards who has made economic populism and ending
poverty cornerstones of his campaign leaving the Democratic field, Nader
said, he feels his candidacy is more urgent than ever. . .

He has harsh words for the leading Democratic candidates, Sen. Hillary
Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, chastising them for failing to advance
aggressive plans to tax corporations more fairly, and to fight for a
vastly higher minimum wage.

Obama, he said, is a particular disappointment, since his background
suggests that he knows the importance of progressive issues yet hasn't
fought for them in the Senate. "His record in the Senate is pretty
mediocre," Nader said. "His most distinctive characteristic is the
extent to which he censors himself. He hasn't performed as a really
progressive first-term senator would."  His "self-censorship," Nader
said, "is a reflection of character."

He's no kinder to the Republican frontrunner, Sen. John McCain. "Senator
McCain is the candidate of perpetual war," he said.

Nader also rejects the "spoiler" label many Democrats have applied to
him since 2000, when his candidacy was blamed in some circles for
helping defeat Democratic candidate Al Gore. "That is the sign of
political bigotry," he said. "Why aren't the major candidates spoilers?
They represent parties that spoil our electoral system and our
government."

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=4215961

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||