Nader will have a press-conferance where he will state that Kerry refused to support the issues important to his supporters. Watch.
I agree! Nader for VP! Go Ralph Go!
Nader is running as the ONLY anti-Iraq candidate.
By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer
WASHINGTON - Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) will meet Wednesday with independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader (news - web sites), the longtime consumer advocate who is blamed by many Democrats for Al Gore (news - web sites)'s loss in the 2000 election.
Nader has been pushing for a meeting with the presumptive Democratic nominee ever since Kerry wrapped up the primary race about two months ago. Kerry also has expressed interest in sitting down with Nader, who complained as recently as Sunday about the inability to reach key Kerry campaign staffers to arrange a meeting.
The two will meet Wednesday afternoon at Kerry's campaign headquarters, according to two senior Democratic officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. They said Kerry's aides were working Tuesday night to determine what Nader hoped to gain from the meeting, but said there was no reason to believe he would obey calls from top Democrats to drop out.
Kerry's campaign had no immediate comment.
Reached late Tuesday night, Nader confirmed the meeting and said he looked forward to discussing "certain common policies" with Kerry.
"I think that's for the good of our country and for the benefit of the American people that are being ignored or repudiated by the Bush regime," Nader told The Associated Press in an interview.
Nader said he doubted Kerry would ask him to withdraw from the race, and repeated his long-standing position that dropping out is not an option.
The war in Iraq (news - web sites) seemed to be one topic on Nader's agenda. Nader has emerged in recent weeks as a staunch anti-war candidate, critical of both President Bush (news - web sites) and Kerry for not setting out a plan to withdraw U.S. troops.
"You can't have a discussion without talking about the war in Iraq," he said.
Gore lost Florida — and the presidency — to Republican George W. Bush by fewer than 600 votes, while Nader garnered nearly 100,000 votes there as the Green Party's nominee.
Democrats have almost universally urged Nader not to run again, saying his presence will only help Bush win re-election.
Nader was endorsed last week by the national Reform Party, a move that gives him access to the ballot in at least seven states, including the battlegrounds of Florida and Michigan.
Nader is not yet on any state ballot.
Last month, Kerry told reporters he would reach out to Nader backers in hopes of securing their support.
"I respect him. I'm not going to attack him in any way," Kerry said. "I'm just going to try to talk to his people and point out that we've got to beat George Bush. ... And I hope that by the end of this race I can make it unnecessary for people to feel they need to vote for someone else."
Nader complained during a television interview Sunday about the inability to get in touch with Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill and Kerry himself to schedule the meeting.
"I've been trying to meet him now for two weeks and we haven't been able to get even his campaign manager to return the call, even though he's indicated publicly that he wants to get together," Nader said on CNN's "Late Edition."
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Asked in the interview whether he would drop out if he were to conclude that continuing would hurt Kerry and guarantee Bush's re-election, Nader said he would not.
"No. Of course not," he said. "You don't run a presidential campaign nationally and say to your volunteers who have worked their heart out sometime in October, well, sorry."
Kerry returned to Washington on Tuesday night after two days of campaigning in Portland, Ore., with former presidential rival Howard Dean (news - web sites). Both men have warned that Nader could draw votes from the Democratic candidate.
Kerry and Dean, who accompanied the presumptive nominee on the flight to Washington, said it's been relatively easy for Kerry to win the backing of his former rivals, largely because they have similar positions on issues.
"What we had in common was far greater," Kerry told reporters while airborne. "There were differences but we didn't differ in the larger basics."
Added Dean: "I honestly think there's a certain amount of camaraderie. You get to know each other."
But it has proven far more difficult for Kerry to bring Nader into the fold.
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Associated Press Writer Sam Hananel contributed to this report.