Wisconsin Progressives, including Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Associated Students of Madison Chairwoman Emily McWilliams, released an open letter Wednesday asking potential Nader voters in swing states to forfeit their vote to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
While supporters of the document all share Nader's passion, they said they will not vote for him this election, pledging not to give George Bush four more years in office.
\Voting for Ralph Nader is a luxury we cannot afford in this election,"" said State Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, who signed the letter.
Many former Nader supporters have also joined in the plea for votes for Kerry, but say that they are certainly not abandoning their support of the Green party.
Some Green party members prefer to get Kerry votes in the swing states, such as Wisconsin, but advocate voting for their party in all other political races in order to build the party.
""We really have to unite to get Bush out of office,"" Ald. Austin King, District 8, said. ""We think the best thing we can do is get George W. Bush out of office by voting for John Kerry in swing states.""
After the Green party nominated David Cobb, Nader is running as a Reform party candidate. King said this has been a controversial move by Nader because the views of the Reform party are wildly inconsistent with those of the Green party, Nader's former political party.
In the 2000 presidential election, many assumed that Nader took crucial votes away from then Democratic candidate Al Gore and will do the same to Kerry this election.
However, according to UW-Madison political science Professor Donald Ferree, this may not be true.
""People believe that a vote for Nader is a potential Democratic vote that has been taken away from Democrats, and that is certainly grossly over simplified,"" Ferree said.
He said Nader's political platform asserts there is no difference between Kerry and Bush. Therefore, Ferree said Nader supporters who believe in this mentality do not perceive Kerry as a viable solution. He said when Nader voters were polled last election, some claimed Bush was their second choice, implying that not all Nader voters are necessarily Democratic supporters.
""Taking a look at all the votes Nader received last election and simply placing them in the Democratic column is a drastic overstatement,"" Ferree said. ""And if Nader wasn't in this election, some people wouldn't vote. Some would vote for Bush and others would vote for Kerry.""
