Ralph Nader, the former Green Party candidate and scourge of many Democrats who blame him for Al Gore's defeat in 2000, earned a place on the California ballot Saturday as the newly minted candidate of the Peace and Freedom Party. Nader won the party's presidential nomination over the spirited challenge of a socialist candidate, Gloria La Riva, in an eclectic gathering of the political left in a Sacramento hotel.The crowd at the Peace and Freedom convention was minuscule when compared to the crowds who will greet John McCain at the Republican convention at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., and turn out to see Barack Obama accept the Democratic nomination at the Invesco Field football stadium in Denver.
But in a packed, sweaty room at the Hawthorn Suites, Nader emerged as the champion for "progressive" activists who rallied to send a message to the two "corporate" parties, lambasting Democrats and Republicans alike for condoning sustained war, abusing workers and neglecting families.