Ralph Nader is Racer X. When he enters the race, crashes happen! People try to blame it on him, but wasn't it really that sinister coalition of entrenched interests, who were out to get him but kept aiming bad and crashing the other drivers due to his wilier Racer X driving skills? You can't crash Racer X! But everybody else on the road - better LOOK OUT!
I remember this slot car race track toy we had as kids - somebody got it for Christmas one year - wait, somebody probably got it for Christmas a couple years running, we'd always trash the poor thing. But in any case, this was the one where you could switch lanes - which was awesome - and on top of that there were three cars out on the track: your car, the other kid's car, and the "crash car"! As the ad declared, "watch out for that crash car!" He's not in it to win it. He just wants to mess you up.
What all of that has to do with Ralph Nader is debatable, but I think a parallel could be drawn.
Anyway, from toy and cartoon nostalgia back to politics: Ralph Nader! What's his game? What will his always-unpredictable effect be on this volatile race? Of our fickle and extremely ticklish electorate, who will come out to support him? It's hard to spin this one. Logic suggests that the Democrat fanbase will prove most susceptible to his old-school staunch pro-little guy advocacy vibe. Yet after he hand-delivered them victory in 2000, Republicans may well feel drawn to Nader out of some lingering sense of misplaced gratitude.
The Clintons seem pretty vulnerable to me. I think that a lot of their base of support has eroded, and if they win the Dem Presidential nom, Nader will represent a major threat to their chances. Not as big a threat as Hillary, admittedly, but still a major threat.
For the Repubbies, let's face it: McCain has that nom in the bag. But does he have anything to worry about from the emerging specter of Ralph Nader's 3rd-car candidacy? Don't be surprised if the answer is "maybe"! McCain and Nader seem kind of similar in a lot of ways. They're both mavericks. They're both a little kooky, and both have mostly turned that kookiness into part of their draw. But McCain is far more a 'Pops' Racer figure: genial, edged with no-nonsense gruff. Whereas Nader has that outsider danger-seeking Racer X vibe down cold. An icy competitor with steel nerves, the safest driver on the road! - as far as his own safety goes...! Breaking into the pack with no regard for anything but the finish line! Leaving twisted wrecks and busted dreams of Presidentiality in his wake.
Which brings us to Barack Obama. We all know who he is.
Go, Speed, Go!
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