I’m not a partisan in any way, shape or form. (In fact, I’ll admit I haven’t voted since becoming an anchor/reporter a few election cycles ago – it’s my way of guaranteeing objectivity in my reporting.) I can only wonder what Ralph Nader is really up to, and what people will make of him after this Fall.

Here’s how I see it -

Nader can’t be jumping in because he expects to win. He said himself in the interview that if the Democrats don’t “landslide the Republicans” this time around they don’t deserve to be a party. I take that to mean he doesn’t think he can win, unless it’s his way of saying only HE can beat them – with no money or campaign or organization or his name on ANY ballots ANYWHERE. Maybe he’s waiting on a miracle even bigger than the one Republican Mike Huckabee says he’s waiting on.

Can he be doing it because he honestly believes he’s a compelling enough force to get the public and the Government to see things his way on all the issues he cares about? If so, where’s he been the past four years? Why hasn’t he used that power for good in between elections on the Hill or in some form of ongoing campaign? It’s like Superman saying he’s only coming out of his Fortress of Solitude to fight all the world’s crimes only on the Chinese New Year!

Is there a missing voice he’s meant to provide on the political landscape? He’s as far left as they come in this country on pretty much every issue. Barack Obama has THE most Liberal voting record in Washington, so where’s the void?

Does he want to reprise his role as the spoiler in 2000 who shaved off enough votes for Al Gore that George W. Bush was able to win without a majority of the popular vote? Nader says, “Get over it!”, since 40 percent of his voters told pollsters in 2000 that they would have stayed home if he wasn’t on the ballot. He insists that absolves him of any responsibility for the outcome, even though 35-percent said they’d have voted for Gore and only 25-percent said they’d have voted for Bush. That margin would STILL have been enough for Gore to win.

I’m out of reasons, so I’m left to think Nader is doing it for Nader’s sake, and that strikes me as pretty narcissistic and egotistical. But what about his supporters? I may be wrong, but I think it says something about us as a body politic that there are many voters out there who see Nader’s stepping in at this time as nothing but a worthy act of patriotism. I hear them on the radio and read them on the blogs and I wonder if this is how the Democrats find a way to trip themselves up this time around. The pols won’t do it, but the voters might….