The Scout Report for Social Sciences - October 31, 2000





One Week Before the Election, Nader's Potential Impact Looms Large
1. Yahoo! Full Coverage: "Greens' Nader on a Tear in Toss-Up States" (Reuters)
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001030/pl/campaign_nader_dc_8.html
2. The New York Times: "5-State Tour Seeks to Shift Nader Voters to Gore Camp"
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/30/politics/30NADE.html
3. The Christian Science Monitor: "Nader's voters: steadfast . . . or switchable?"
http://www.csmonitor.com/atcsmonitor/specials/wh2000/stories/topnews.htm
4. Salon.com: "Gore Goes Green"
http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/10/27/green/index.html?CP=YAH&DN=110
5. Salon.com: "Unsafe in Any State" http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/10/28/nader/index.html
6. Counterpunch: "A Vote for Nader Is . . . A Vote for Nader"
http://www.counterpunch.org/
7. New York Times_ Special Section: The 2000 Election
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/elections/index.html
8. Voteswap 2000
http://voteswap2000.com/
Over the weekend, Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman urged Nader-supporters to consider that a vote for Nader could well end up giving George W.
Bush the White House. Lieberman was echoing the thoughts of a growing number of liberals, including Gloria Steinem and the presidents of the Sierra Club and the
National Organization for Women, who are stumping for Gore in selected toss-up states. Such concerns are justified by recent polling data that give Nader sufficient
support in states like Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan to tip the balance from Gore to Bush, assuming, as most polls show, that Nader draws
more from potential Gore voters than potential Bush voters. In this same vein, some earlier prominent, Nader-led activists, dubbed "Nader's Raiders," have shifted their
loyalties and, at the prospect of a Bush presidency, turned to Gore. But the Green Party's candidate is himself undeterred, stating frankly on ABC News's This Week
Sunday that "if he [Gore] cannot defeat the bumbling Texas governor with that horrific record, what good is he? It should be a slam dunk." Analysts are divided over
whether would-be Nader voters will break at the last minute for Gore, accepting the thinking of democratic leaders that only a vote for a potential winner means anything,
or whether they will stick with Nader, using their vote, it would seem, to express a fundamental dissatisfaction with the current political system.

Yahoo! posts a Reuters's article (1) summarizing Nader's surge in key battleground states. The New York Times (2) offers coverage of a campaign by prominent
progressives to convince Nader voters in Washington, New Mexico, Minnesota, Oregon, and Wisconsin to vote for Gore. An article in the electronic edition of The
Christian Science Monitor (3) highlights voters on the left and their struggle to choose between the electable, but very moderate, Gore and the apparently unelectable, but
staunchly progressive, Nader. In their "on the road" coverage of the campaigns, Salon.com (4) describes Gore's efforts to highlight his environmentalism on the stump to
persuade swing voters to choose him. Social historian and former sixties activist Todd Gitlin, makes the argument (5) that a vote for Nader is irresponsible, given the
consequences of a Bush presidency, and Alexander Cockburn's online edition of Counterpunch (6) disputes such an argument. The New York Times has posted a special
section (7) on the campaign with links to articles on not only the Presidential race but congressional and gubernatorial races nationwide; of special interest are the ongoing
estimates drawn from tracking polls of the electoral college count (click on "political points"). Voteswap 2000 (8) allows Nader and Gore supporters in different states to
agree to "swap votes" and offers links to similar sites and Websites about the candidates and the Electoral College. [DC]
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From The Scout Report for Social Sciences, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2000. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/