Every vote counts. Solon noted yesterday that Nader is on the Pennsylvania ballot. Actually if you look at Nader's website you will see that Nader will likely be on every ballot except Texas, North Carolina, Indiana, and perhaps one or two others.
And so. Will Obama do what Gore did and act as though The Nader does not exist. Harrogate wants to take this opportunity to remind everyone for the zillionth time that, had Gore taken New Hampshire in 2000, Florida wouldn't have mattered.
Opinions will differ on how to deal with the people leaning Nader. Harrogate has a lot of respect for these people. They have legitimate complaints about the way our federal government operates, and the way it does not operate. 6-10% of the electorate is a lot. Writing them off is not only impolitic for a close election, but it is moreover rude.
Harrogate's opinion on how to deal with them? Show them respect by courting them. Court them aggressively. Verily, Barack Obama needs to run Ads in Swing States attacking Nader by telling his voters that he cares about Nader's issues. Does Obama mean it for example when he says we need to stop giving tax breaks to companies that exploit cheap overseas labor? Does he mean it when he says that the tax code as currently configured makes a sham of our market system. Does Barack Obama mean it when he champions civil liberties? If he means these things, he needs to say them to audiences with whom he has not yet registered. If he had time to go on Rick Warren's set, by God, he's got time to show these people the respect and attention that they and their concerns deserve. And you know what? Even in those areas that Barack Obama fundamentally disagrees with Naderites: say, on FISA for example. He could at least show them the respect of saying look, I disagree with you, and here's why. People don't take kindly to being treated as though they don't exist, as everyone who went to high school knows well.
On a practical level, moreover. Harrogate thinks it is self-evident that Obama can attempt to persuade those leaning Nader without alienating his center-right contingent. At this point in our History, the only people who are not sick to death of the corporate takeover are far right ecocons and the far right social cons who don't care about anything but abortion and boys kissing.
The moderate undecideds, however, will not begrudge Obama going after the Nader base. In Harrogate's opinion.
Meanwhile, go here to see Nader's latest strategy of assocation with Ron Paul. Hmmmmmm. That's a lot of votes untapped by either Party, suddenly. Rather than ceding them to Nader or Barr, why not at least make an effort at them? At any rate, it seems to make more sense than going after "PUMAS", who either don't exist or who are so self-involved and petty that rational persuasion isn't going to work on them anyway.
"PUMAS" if they exist are saying we're taking our ball and going home unless you make a spectacle of yourself by grovelling. This creates a defunct Rhetorical Situation. But Naderites are saying, we have principles and we are sick of those principles being ignored. That is to be respected. Lesser of two evils surely is not the best argument that Barack Obama can make.
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