GORE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR GORE'S ELECTORAL PROBLEMS
WASHINGTON, D. C., Nov. 10 - Ralph Nader said today that the Gore campaign is continuing to fish for an excuse for its failures in Tuesday's election.
"Clearly, the Gore supporters - and their apologists in the opinion media - would like to place the blame on our campaign, but the facts simply do not support their theory," Nader said. "Gore ran a poor campaign, failed to attract new voters and remained a captive of the conservative Democratic Leadership Council and the corporations and the special commercial interests that financed his campaign. "
Nader said Gore, as Vice President in an incumbent Administration, entered the election with "every advantage against a marginal, ill-equipped and corporate-dominated Texas Governor." "Yet, the Vice President mismanaged his campaign into a deadlock with Bush and now he has only himself to blame for the Democratic fiasco."
"Rather than trying to shift blame to our campaign, the Democratic Party needs to examine itself and reassess the party's decision to abandon its progressive roots and to place its emphasis on raising big money, rather than reaching out to people."
Nader Campaign Manager Theresa Amato made these points:
*Third-party candidates are not responsible for the campaigns of the major parties. It is absurd to expect the Nader campaign to give up its votes because Al Gore failed to attract enough votes. Candidates have to earn their own votes. They cannot expect third-party candidates to run to elect them anymore than third parties are entitled to their votes. Already, third parties are up against massive barriers of money and media and debate and ballot exclusions.
*The idea that all the Green Party votes would have gone to Gore had Nader not run is not supported by the facts. A significant part of the Nader vote comes from new voters and voters who would not have voted without Nader on the ballot. Gore would not have attracted many of these votes under any circumstances. Moreover, Al Gore did not even win his home state of Tennessee.
*Lack of enthusiasm among much of the Democratic base hurt the Gore campaign. The abandonment of progressive issues and the failure to address issues like universal health insurance, public financing of public elections, anti-union labor laws, consumer protections, renewable energy, corporate crime, welfare, WTO-NAFTA, the death penalty, the drug war, affordable housing and child poverty contributed to the feeling of many voters that voting for Gore meant nothing to them.
*The false ring of "populist rhetoric" which Gore suddenly started espousing in an effort to combat the Nader campaign without providing specific proposals, only words.
*The shifting positions and reinventions only led voters to wonder just which Al Gore was running at the top of the Democratic ticket.
"In the end, Al Gore made his appeal on one major campaign pitch - that he was not George W. Bush," Nader said. "That simply was not enough to bring millions of stay-at-home voters to the polls." -- Stacy Malkan Assistant Press Secretary Nader 2000 Campaign 202.265.4000 ext. 42 202.265.0183 (fax) www.votenader.org
Paid for by the Nader 2000 General Committee, Inc. P.O. Box 18002, Washington, D.C. 20036