Bwild:

For those who don't know much about him, here is a couple of links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Nader
http://www.nader.org/

Reading a little about him, I found out that he is a lawyer. Since the late 1950s he has been involved in issues such as public safety, environmental protection, government corruption and legislation to support those and other issues.

He has aligned himself with the Green Party. This party stands somewhere between the "liberal" parties (like the Democrats) and the European social democratic movement.

I will not say that he is a socialist. That would be inaccurate. He is a populist reformer. He believes that legislation and good government can get rid of many of the problems people face today. Of course. all politicians will say the same thing.

Considering the candidates he has run against from 2000 until now, I would say that for my liking he was probably the best one out there. Well, he comes closer to my left-leaning politics. He is certainly a very intelligent, very experienced politician. I would say his only weakness is his lack of experience in foreign policy. Other than that he seems to be one of the most capable politicians the US has had in the last 20 years.

Most Republicans in the US dislike him, and Democrats blame him for tilting the balance in favor of George W. Bush in 2000. He attracted much of the left-leaning vote, and the Democrats think they lost because of him. Of course, the same can be said of the Reform Party, which attracts the right-leaning vote.

I think that he is at least an alternative to two political parties that have become entrenched in their ideologies. I have seen no change coming from conservatives (Republicans) or liberals (Democrats) for the last 40 years.