SEATTLE -- Ralph Nader is turning out to be just like one of the grubby pols for whom he expresses such disdain. Faced with an ''independent'' (actually Republican) 30-second television commercial headed for battleground state air to give him a little boost against Al Gore, Nader could have denounced the cynical tactic, demanded that the George W. Bush front group running it pull the video featuring a Nader speech excerpt denouncing Gore but missing all the parts condemning Bush, or stepped back and done nothing in the hopes that the free air time would help.
Think about it. The great Nader, foe of corporate and big money politics, morally superior, and a legend in his own mind, seeking votes via soft money from special interests. But because there is a God, Nader's Bush-in-league cynicism backfired. The sponsoring group, whose Bush connection has a track record of seeking press attention for its commercials and then either buying precious little actual time or none at all.
But where it counted - out here - the press coverage was disastrous. Nader not only looked cynical, much more important the attention made the Al Gore argument irrefutably clear that votes for Nader are of consequence only to the extent they help elect Bush president.
This argument has been around since last spring. Nader lost the intellectual and moral point from the outset by not seriously contesting it. Now, he's beginning to lose the political argument on the street among the 30-40 percent of his supporters who tell careful pollsters they would otherwise vote for Gore and could easily still do so. In fact, this is turning into such a rout at the grass roots that the Gore campaign might consider using some money to keep Ralph alive. As a motivator for an awesome get-out-the-vote operation, Nader is ideal because the direct, mortal threat he poses to progressive causes and values is so indisputable.
Just as news was breaking here of the Republican Leadership Council ad for Nader, popular Seattle City Councilor Judy Nicastro sent a letter to the public and fellow Green Party members changing ships and calling Nader's ''no difference'' rhetoric ''simply untrue.'' By the weekend, she was running Gore events mobilizing leafleteers, canvassers, and the like, including a 2,000-person meeting in historic Gasworks Park.
Two months ago there would have been 50-plus Naderites there carrying on. Last weekend, there were just a handful. More numerous were the signs promoting the hot Internet scheme of trading Nader votes: Find someone in a state not in play to vote for him, helping the Greens get the 5 percent needed for future federal ballot and matching fund recognition, while those in the battlegrounds vote for Gore. It is symbolic uncle-saying.
Much of the Nader attention followed polls in Oregon and Minnesota that had Bush narrowly ahead with Nader getting 10 percent. There isn't a wise guy in either place who thinks that's accurate, but the attention helps Gore on the street. Conventional wisdom also likes to say those two states, this one, Maine, Wisconsin, and New Mexico hang in the balance. It's a crock; on any given day, 14-18 states can be as close as close gets, making Nader a much broader factor.
The short-term result has been to produce huge efforts backing Gore, on TV and the street, by the major national groups supporting abortion rights and the environment. Nader helps them by acknowledging that Bush's election could produce a Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, and that Bush could drill in Alaska, gut the basic environmental statutes, and undercut the fight against smog and soot in the cities. It is the ultimate arrogance of the elite, process revolutionist to put movement building ahead of the lowly citizenry.
I think the sleeper in this is the gay community, tough to poll because it is a mobile population. ''I have friends who say to me we survived 12 years of Reagan-Bush,'' says Terry Bream, an investment genius from Portland, Ore., who is a Human Rights Campaign board member. ''Well I remind them that in fact many of our friends literally did not survive.''
''This is a very personal thing for me,'' said singer and activist Melissa Etheridge. ''Those who say it's OK to sacrifice another four years cannot have thought it out very well.''
That Nader is a threat to progressive issues is obvious. But to date, he's also been a godsend.
Thomas Oliphant's e-mail address is oliphant@globe.com.
