In a piece on PBS Newshour the other day, they interviewed a NH voter who backed Nader in 2000, but is now a dedicated Dean supporter. She said something like "now it's really important we get Bush out of there". Meanwhile, in
The Nation, some of the commentators are backing Kucinich, but others are saying, essentially, "Dean is the electable version of Kucinich".
In 2000 I criticised Nader voters for not trying to work within the party. Now I'm starting to see it as a "frying pan/fire" situation. When they come into the party, it appears they still exhibit some of that unrealistic political naivete: "vote your hopes, not your fears"--except this time it's within the primary system.
And it could be even worse in '04: after all, Gore still outpolled Bush last time, and after four years of Bush, a Nader (or other Green) candidacy would probably attract less support as people saw the need to get rid of Bush, damn the torpedoes. But by energising earlier, in the primary process, they may force all Democrats to be stuck with their nominee or bust. sigh