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Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Greens?

By Julian Foley

In the space of a single election season, Ralph Nader went from a frumpy, eccentric consumer advocate to a serious political threat, from a side item to the talk of the town. For the first time ever, "Greens" and "third party" are spoken in the same breath. Vitriolic emails fly back and forth across America, and friendships disintegrate into political flame-throwing. Since when did anyone take the Green Party so seriously?

Since Al Gore got nervous. So when the Democrats opened fire on Nader and the Green Party in a last-ditch effort to scare some would-be-rebels back into the party fold, they succeeded too in securing Nader a front-page picture in the New York Times, and the kind of political name recognition that only PAC money can buy.

To hear the Dems tell it, the Greens have emerged as a real party with the power to deny Al Gore his victory, and leave the White House to the not-so-compassionate mercies of George W. Bush. So terrified are they of the Green Threat, they have resorted to the lowest of the low dirty campaign tactics, using all variety of movie stars, moderate environmental groups and liberal leaders of old as their mouth piece to get the word out: Beware, ignorant citizens. A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush.

Swing states have been inundated with anti-Nader ads. Top party officials are exhorting Nader to rein in his troops and stop his childish behavior. Medea Benjamin, the Green candidate for California's U.S. Senate seat reports hate calls and e-mails to her headquarters that have been traced back to a Democratic Party office in Washington.

Some of the Democratic party faithful are even offering to trade Nader votes in safe states for Gore votes in swing states.

Where's Nader in all this? He's all over the television, in all the papers, in people's minds, on the tips of their tongues, he is everywhere. His name has invaded the political consciousness much the way Perot's did in 1992. And all for the bargain price of standing his ground.

His supporters are reveling in it. Twelve thousand people turned up for Nader's last super rally in Washington D.C. this weekend, paying $15 each to say no to Gore. That's more even than turned out for Nader's Oakland rally last month, and almost as many as showed up to hear him speak in New York before the Democratic Crusade began.

And why not? The way the Greens see it, they have nothing to lose. Gore's brand of centrism is no more palatable than Bush's compassionate conservatism, and an election upset might just be the shock the party needs to begin reversing the liberal-phobic tide that began with the Mondale fiasco of 1984.

After all, as Nader is constantly reminding Democrats, if Gore loses he has only his failed platform to blame.

So no matter what the finally tally reveals tonight, the biggest win of all goes to the Greens. When they come out to campaign next season, people might actually remember their name.