Re-examining the Nader factor

Apparently, there's another Heath H. out there.

Writing for The Denver Post, independent journalist Heath Haussamen says Nader deserves a large share of credit for the Democratic Party's recent resurgence.

Nader has taken the time during his presidential runs to foster excitement in independents and young people, and he had some success in 2000. That scared Democrats. But instead of looking inward and considering why they were failing to bring Nader supporters into the Democratic Party, they blamed Nader for Bush.

That’s like saying the car manufacturer is responsible when a drunken driver crashes its automobile into a crowd of people. Or like saying the gun maker is responsible when a psychopath goes on a rampage on a college campus. Nader didn’t force people to vote for him. They made that choice.

As proof that Nader wasn’t to blame for Gore’s loss, an equally uninspiring John Kerry lost four years later without Nader garnering any significant support. The problem wasn’t Nader. It was the Democratic Party.

[...]

I give Nader some of the credit for the Democratic Party’s awakening. The support he gained in 2000 forced the party to begin a serious examination of its own problems. It took another devastating loss in 2004 for the party to really take those problems seriously, and in 2008 we’ve seen a slate of Democratic presidential candidates much different than any in this nation’s history.

He's right.

Nader has pushed the party to reconnect with its base. They could have learned this as early as 2000.

Gore trailed Bush badly for the first half of that year. It wasn't until Nader began drawing nearly 10% of the vote in polls that Gore decided to retool his message and adopted a populist approach. The result had Gore leading Bush going into the fall.

This was a lead he maintained until he a abandoned the populist approach and agreed with Bush on nearly every issue in the debates. Immediately after, his lead evaporated and the two were in a dead heat going into election day. We all know what happened next.