He's baaacck.

Ralph Nader, the long-time consumer advocate whom many Democrats blame for throwing the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush, announced today that he is mounting a third run for the Presidency. Nader's announcement, made on NBC's Meet the Press was brushed off by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but Republican Mike Huckabee said he thought it would cost the Democrats votes in November.

Nader, 74, told Meet the Press host Tim Russert that he decided to run to raise issues that he felt were not being given sufficient prominence in the campaign so far:

You know, when you see the paralysis of the government, when you see Washington, D.C., be corporate-occupied territory, every department agency controlled by overwhelming presence of corporate lobbyists, corporate executives in high government positions, turning the government against its own people, you--one feels an obligation, Tim, to try to open the doorways, to try to get better ballot access, to respect dissent in America in the terms of third parties and, and independent candidates; to recognize historically that great issues have come in our history against slavery and women rights to vote and worker and farmer progressives, through little parties that never ran--won any national election. Dissent is the mother of ascent. And in that context, I have decided to run for president.

Nader rejected the idea that his candidacy could put John Mc Cain in the White House. He argued that Gore actually won in 2000, "but it was taken from him before, during and after the election from Tallahassee." He added that the regardless of his candidacy, the Democrats should "landslide the Republicans" this year, and accused both Democrats and Republicans of electoral chicanery:

These are the two parties who've spoiled our electoral system, money, they can't even count the votes, they steal--the Republicans steal the votes, and the Democrats knock third party candidates off the ballot. That's their specialty these days.

Nader is running to be the nominee of the Green Party. against former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia Mc Kinney and Kent Mesplay. Nader was the Greens' standard bearer in 2000.

If bloggers' reactions are any indication, Nader will have a lonely time on the campaign trail. Genevieve at Dizzy Dems was blunt:

What are you on, man? When they said anyone in America could grow up to be President, they weren’t talking about you, Ralph! You’ve tried and failed and tried and failed! And don’t give me this “I’m making a statement” crap.

At All Effed-Up, there's a lot of worry that this will benefit the GOP::

While Nader is likely not in bed with the GOP, he might as well be. Since this announcement, forums and comments all over the web have been that Nader just gave the election to McCain. Many of those posts came from GOP voters. While that may be an exaggeration, I wish we didn't have to take that chance.

Sarah Wheaton at the New York TImes noted that Nader called Obama "a person of substance" but said that his record was too timid on progressive issues. For his part, Obama was quoted as saying that:

[H]istorically, he is a singular figure in American politics and has done as much as just about anybody on behalf of consumers. So in many ways he is a heroic figure and I don’t mean to diminish him. But I do think there is a sense now that if somebody is not hewing to the Ralph Nader agenda, then you must be lacking in some way.

A spokesman for the Clinton campaign was quoted in the Politico.com as saying that "'loathe' isn't too strong a word" to describe their feelings about Nader.

Do you think that Nader's entry into the race will have an impact on its outcome?

Media credit: photo of Cynthia Mc Kinney from candidate's website, photo of Ralph Nader from candidate's website

cross-posted at Professor Kim's News Notes