http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/2007/10/28/2007-10-28_nader_voters_crippled_gore_in_2000_now_t.htmlNader voters crippled Gore in 2000; now they love him BY CELESTE KATZ
DAILY NEWS POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
Sunday, October 28th 2007, 4:00 AM
Right or wrong, people who voted for Ralph Nader get blamed for costing Al Gore the 2000 election.
Now, some of those very same voters are throwing themselves into a new - and nonexistent - campaign: Gore 2008.
And they say there's no irony at all.
"In 2000, Nader was the most progressive candidate, and in 2008, Al Gore would be the most progressive candidate. There's no dissonance at all, I would say," argues Bud Plautz, the New York head of the movement to draft the former vice president. Newly minted Nobel Laureate Gore, of course, is the biggest noncandidate candidate in the arena.
In 2000, Nader sucked up more than 97,000 votes in Florida - many times the infinitesimal margin by which President Bush beat Gore there. Nader drew about 2.9 million votes nationally - pulling support from Gore without earning the Green Party a permanent ballot slot.
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"The right wing never apologizes and never admits to making mistakes, and I think the left is full of guilt and angst and this collective mentality that we were indirectly responsible for Bush's eight-year reign of terror," he said.
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