Nader brings campaign to Syracuse
Syracuse Post-Standard
Mike McAndrew
October 18th, 2008
Inside The Westcott, Ralph Nader had delivered a 30-minute stump speech to about 100 cheering fans, and it was time to raise some money.
One of his presidential campaign organizers promised a copy of Nader's 1965 book, "Unsafe at Any Speed," to any supporter willing to donate the maximum, $2,300, to Nader's long-shot run for the White House.
There were no takers.
"How about $1,000?" Nader organizer Matt Zawisky asked the theater audience.
"How about $500?" he begged like an auctioneer.
In the third row, Mary Jane Field, of Lyncourt, raised a hand.
Nader, the 74-year-old consumer advocate running on the Populist Party line in his fourth presidential campaign, is likely to be the only presidential candidate who stumps for votes in Central New York this year.
Nader raised an estimated $4,000 during a two-hour rally in Syracuse in which he railed against Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama, Republican John McCain, corporate America, the two-party system and the national media.
Nader, who has drawn support from 2 to 3 percent of voters polled this month, said he is proposing policies that most Americans support, like government-paid health insurance for all Americans, ending the war in Iraq, and requiring corporations to pay "living wages" to full-time workers.
But he has no expectation of even coming close to winning because people have been conditioned to vote Republican or Democrat, he has been excluded from the presidential debates, and the national media are ignoring him.
New Yorkers should vote for him, Nader said, if they want to pressure an Obama administration into cutting the military budget, combating corporate greed and helping the poor.
"He's a corporate tool," Nader said of Obama. "Prepare to be severely disappointed."
The United States is wasting billions annually on missile systems that don't work and to unnecessarily keep troops in Europe decades after World War II ended, Nader said.
"Meanwhile, back in Syracuse, you have crumbling public works. Bridges that need repairs. Roads that need repair. Schools that need renovation. Clinics that need to be expandEd. . . . And there's no money," he said.
A registered Democrat, Field, 51, said she contributed to Nader's campaign on Friday primarily because she believes he will end the war in Iraq.
In 2004, Nader received 84,247 votes in New York. In his 2000 presidential bid, He received 244,030 votes in New York. That equaled 3.5 percent of the statewide vote.
Nader appeared at the rally with Green Populist candidate Howie Hawkins, who is running for the 25th Congressional District seat against Democrat Dan Maffei and Republican Dale Sweetland.
Nader and his vice presidential candidate, Matt Gonzalez, a former San Francisco Board of Supervisors president, are on the ballot in 45 states.
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