Ralph Nader

ANDOVER, N.H. -- Frederick Condon, whose paralyzing accident inspired consumer advocate Ralph Nader's crusade for safer cars, has died in Raleigh, N.C., where he had moved to live with his children. Mr. Condon, 71, a retired insurance executive, and Nader were classmates at Harvard Law School and became friends. In 1961 Mr. Condon was injured in a crash near Concord that left him a paraplegic. Nader, a native of Winsted, Conn., dedicated his milestone book, "Unsafe at Any Speed," to Mr. Condon.

I HAVE a few questions for Obama supporters and Democratic voters regarding the Feb. 8 letters "Unhappy liberals and Obama," which were published in response to Neal Gabler's op-ed "The liberal case against Obama": How do we convince our elected officials to resist corporate pressure when we provide no pressure of our own? What incentive do they have to fight for our best interests when we guarantee these politicians our votes? I've been a voting Democrat since 1976, and have heard the same logic every election: "This one's too critical for a principled stand; Democrats lose if...

WASHINGTON -- Ralph Nader's independent bid for the White House has qualified to receive matching government funds, the Federal Election Commission announced yesterday. Campaign officials said Nader has raised more than $850,000 to date from 7,800 separate contributions. To receive matching funds, a candidate must raise at least $5,000 in 20 states in donations of $250 or less. The average contribution to the Nader campaign is $100, with 89 percent being $100 or less, the campaign said.

NEAL GABLER seems to rely more on imagination than facts in contending that President Obama has compromised too often and failed to live up to the liberal tradition of Franklin D. Roosevelt ("The liberal case against Obama," Op-ed, Feb. 4). FDR constantly compromised — for example, removing national health care from the Social Security Act — despite having comfortable majorities in both houses of Congress (unlike Obama). Gabler's ideological self-righteousness brings to mind the 97,000 people in Florida who voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 - leading to an eight-year...

NEAL GABLER seems to rely more on imagination than facts in contending that President Obama has compromised too often and failed to live up to the liberal tradition of Franklin D. Roosevelt ("The liberal case against Obama," Op-ed, Feb. 4). FDR constantly compromised — for example, removing national health care from the Social Security Act — despite having comfortable majorities in both houses of Congress (unlike Obama). Gabler's ideological self-righteousness brings to mind the 97,000 people in Florida who voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 - leading to an eight-year...

SALEM, Ore. -- Two conservative groups have been phoning people around Oregon this week, urging them to attend Ralph Nader's convention today in hopes of putting Nader's name on Oregon's presidential ballot. The groups make no bones about their goal -- to draw votes away from Democrat John F. Kerry and help President Bush win this battleground state in November. "We disagree with Ralph Nader's politics, but we'd love to see him make the ballot," said Russ Walker of Citizens for a Sound Economy, a group best known for its opposition to tax increases.

WASHINGTON -- Ralph Nader says his advice could help his rival, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry, get elected. Nader, interviewed yesterday on CNN's "Late Edition," said Kerry is "getting free consulting from this campaign. We are putting on his desk twice a week issues that could win if the Democrats are smart enough to pick them up. " The latest issue letter, which Nader distributes by e-mail, concerns a living wage. Nader, who is running as an independent in this year's presidential campaign, said 47 million people make less than $10 an hour -- " ...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A state court knocked Ralph Nader off Pennsylvania's presidential ballot yesterday, citing thousands of fradulent signatures, including those of Mickey Mouse and Fred Flintstone. Describing the petitions as "rife with forgeries," Commonwealth Court President Judge James Gardner Colins said fewer than 19,000 of the more than 51,000 signatures Nader's supporters submitted were valid. Nader needed at least 25,697 to be listed on the ballot. "I am compelled to emphasize that this signature-gathering process was the most deceitful and fraudulent exercise ever...

SACRAMENTO - Peter Camejo, a Green Party leader who was a third-party candidate in three California gubernatorial elections before becoming Ralph Nader's running mate in the 2004 presidential race, died Saturday at his home near Sacramento. He was 68 and had lymphoma. "Peter was a friend, colleague, and politically courageous champion of the downtrodden and mistreated of the entire Western Hemisphere," Nader wrote in a statement released Saturday. "Everyone who met Peter, talked to Peter, worked with Peter, or argued with Peter, will miss the passing of a...

WASHINGTON -- Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader said yesterday he still has some reservations about Senator John F. Kerry, particularly on energy conservation issues. In a speech at the National Press Club, Nader recalled a recent meeting with his Democratic rival. Nader said, "He was telling me how strong he was going to be on energy efficiency and energy renewability when he is elected president, as he put it. " Nader said he asked Kerry why more progress hadn't been made on those issues, although the Massachusetts lawmaker and other Democrats have...

WASHINGTON — Ralph Nader and some consumer groups want the Obama administration to suspend General Motors’ initial public stock offering, saying taxpayers could lose billions of dollars. In a letter yesterday, Nader wrote that delaying the stock offering would allow the government to recoup more of its $50 billion investment in the company. He cautioned that the government would have less influence over the auto giant by reducing its ownership stake. He estimated taxpayers could lose nearly $5 billion if the IPO is conducted this year.

WASHINGTON - Ralph Nader, the consumer activist and corporate scourge, is saying nice things about the kind of folks you’d expect him to despise. “Never in America have there been more super-rich people with relatively enlightened views,’’ says Nader, lean and hopeful at age 75, dark eyes aglow as he speaks at the offices of Public Citizen, the progressive research and advocacy group he founded nearly 40 years ago. “Not all the super-rich are craven greedhounds, dominators, and bullies.

SACRAMENTO - Peter Camejo, a Green Party leader who was a third-party candidate in three California gubernatorial elections before becoming Ralph Nader's running mate in the 2004 presidential race, died Saturday at his home near Sacramento. He was 68 and had lymphoma. "Peter was a friend, colleague, and politically courageous champion of the downtrodden and mistreated of the entire Western Hemisphere," Nader wrote in a statement released Saturday. "Everyone who met Peter, talked to Peter, worked with Peter, or argued with Peter, will miss the...

I’M dancing on the top deck with a 71-year-old feminist and psychotherapist whom I’ve come to think of as the Twirler. We’ve spent two days attending seminars on The Nation magazine’s Alaska cruise; we’ve talked about the Bush presidency and prison reform and single-payer health care. Now, at almost midnight, my fiercely intelligent and opinionated new friend Charlotte is putting all the heady political talk behind her by bodily twirling. “If I start to get dizzy then I twirl in the opposite direction,” she tells me as the...

Standing before a Chicago church congregation that has witnessed neighborhood violence firsthand, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said yesterday that more must be done to end a major social ill. Obama told churchgoers at the Vernon Park Church of God on Chicago's South Side that too many young lives are being claimed by violence and more must be done to combat the problem. "From South Central LA to Newark, N. J., there's an epidemic of violence that's sickening the soul of this nation," the Illinois senator told the crowd.

Ralph Nader is like the fabled elephant groped by blind men: Everyone knows they’ve got their hands around something but no one can agree what it is. Is the man a great American or a pious scold? The driving force behind consumer safety and citizen empowerment or the person who single-handedly delivered the country to George W. Bush in 2000? ‘‘Thank you, Ralph Nader, for the war in Iraq,’’ says one commentator in ‘‘An Unreasonable Man,’’ and if sarcasm could kill, he’d be in jail.

WASHINGTON — Ralph Nader and some consumer groups want the Obama administration to suspend General Motors’ initial public stock offering, saying taxpayers could lose billions of dollars. In a letter yesterday, Nader wrote that delaying the stock offering would allow the government to recoup more of its $50 billion investment in the company. He cautioned that the government would have less influence over the auto giant by reducing its ownership stake. He estimated taxpayers could lose nearly $5 billion if the IPO is conducted this year.

I HAVE a few questions for Obama supporters and Democratic voters regarding the Feb. 8 letters "Unhappy liberals and Obama," which were published in response to Neal Gabler's op-ed "The liberal case against Obama": How do we convince our elected officials to resist corporate pressure when we provide no pressure of our own? What incentive do they have to fight for our best interests when we guarantee these politicians our votes? I've been a voting Democrat since 1976, and have heard the same logic every election: "This one's too critical for a principled stand;...

ANDOVER, N.H. -- Frederick Condon, whose paralyzing accident inspired consumer advocate Ralph Nader's crusade for safer cars, has died in Raleigh, N.C., where he had moved to live with his children. Mr. Condon, 71, a retired insurance executive, and Nader were classmates at Harvard Law School and became friends. In 1961 Mr. Condon was injured in a crash near Concord that left him a paraplegic. Nader, a native of Winsted, Conn., dedicated his milestone book, "Unsafe at Any Speed," to Mr. Condon.

WASHINGTON -- Ralph Nader ended his latest presidential bid yesterday with a fraction of the votes he won four years ago, but vowed to continue his campaign against corporate domination of American politics. The consumer advocate -- denounced as a spoiler in 2000 by Democrats who blamed him for costing Al Gore the election -- lashed out at the "liberal intelligentsia" for pressuring him to end his campaign and rallying instead behind Democrat John Kerry. "The liberals who staff and fund so many of those good groups, that years ago made demands on politicians,...