I was so pissed off at Nader last time. This time 'round, I'm strangely finding myself not so exercised, in contrast to many others around me...
I think part of it is that in 2000, he seemed to be running almost entirely as a kamikaze attack against Gore ("Tweedle Dee" or "Tweedle Dum", whichever one Gore represented). Though he referred to Bush as a "corporation masquerading as a candidate" or somesuch, he seemed to reserve his real fury for Al Gore.
This time, Nader seems chastened by the criticism he took from the left as the "spoiler" who "got Bush elected" (though not chastened enough to stay out of the race, apparently). He talks about "opening up another front" against Bush, and states that Kerry is a "work in progress" whose service record is "triple-A" (in contrast to Bush's) and that Kerry would be a "far better" president than Bush. And he talks, again, about helping Democrats retake the House and/or Senate.
Sure, the "another front against Bush" analogy falls apart under close examination, at least in literal terms. In our electoral system, you need one candidate to gain more votes than Bush in the right states. Having several of them do so in combination is of no help--particularly since I very much doubt he will, as he conjectures, get more Republican than Democratic votes.
But he does rightly say that he can take the argument against Bush's record to another level that the Democrats will (wisely) be too cautious to go to. His attacks will not only not come from Kerry's mouth, they cannot be ascribed by the GOP attack squads to "Democrats" or "Kerry supporters".
Will he perhaps "happen" not to get on the ballot in important swing states (but campaign against Bush there anyway)? Will he pull out in October and endorse Kerry, saying that "the work in progress" is progressing in the right direction? Even if he does not, I have the sense that at the very least he will aim his vitriol mostly at Bush rather than the Democratic nominee this time, and in so doing so will help the ticket more than his vote tallies will hurt it. We will see. Or maybe we won't, as some of this will never be fully knowable...but I'm intrigued by the possibilities.