Nader Speaks to Small Crowd at ISU Wednesday
by Dawn Mueller
Ralph Nader filled a room of about 290 people Wednesday at ISU, just hours before John Kerry's appearance in Cedar Rapids.
Nearly all were very young students. The event was nothing at all like Nader's 2000 appearance at UI.
Before the event started, and before Nader had arrived, when I walked
in a Nader staffer observed that I had a half-ream of paper rolled up
in my hand. He came up and demanded to see what I had in my
hand. When I objected, he told me that he was a lawyer and that I
would be threatened with a lawsuit and removed from the room if I did
not comply.
I walked away from him and headed towards a seat in the rear of the
room. He called two more Nader staffers: they surrounded me, told
me I was violating the law by possessing unapproved literature in my
hand. They accused me of distributing anti-Nader literature,
when, in fact, I hadn't done anything but walk into the room.
When I stated that I had not done anything but walk into the room, I
was told that security would be called on me if I did not comply with
their demand to leave the room and to turn what paper I had over to
them. I then raised my voice and requested (somewhat loudly so
that persons in the back of the room would hear), why Nader people, of
all people, would be infringing upon my First Amendment rights to
assemble at a political event – especially at a public event where they
were trying to attract people.
Security was called, and I was told I would have to leave the premises.
When I asked why I would have to leave, the security officer could not
answer. He turned to the Nader people, who couldn't claim
anything because I hadn't done anything, and there were plenty of
witnesses there to prove it. I told them to stop harrassing me,
pushed them off and took my seat.
Approximately 1/4th left before he had finished speaking. A
number of students, who were apparently politically active on campus in
progressive causes, became very upset when Nader accused both Democrats
and progressives of essentially monolithic conspiracy with
corporations. They did not take kindly that he inadvertently
insulted students who were working hard on progressive causes.
A few students were there with Kerry-Edwards stickers or T-shirts.
The remainder of the crowd applauded at Nader's comments. I would
guess maybe 180 or so. I did not recognize anyone from Iowa City
in the crowd, so the audience was likely all Grinnelians and Cyclones.
After his speech, Nader had a Q & A. Only four or so of us
were able to speak at the open mic (about 8 in line), as Nader tends to
give long responses, and the four of us had relatively long statements
to make. All four of us voiced strong concerns about the
election. I discussed Democracy for Iowa; its connection to
Democracy for America and Dean for America. I also stated that I
was with I-Renew; a conservationist; a peace activist; and, a women's
rights activist. I stated that Democracy for Iowa was proud to
support candidates like Paul Johnson for Congress, and that DFA was working to take down Tom Delay and promote progressives across the country.
Nader made comments supportive of Dean but also one that expressed
bitterness at his perception that some Dean people had worked to keep
him off the ballot in many states.
I urged Nader to call upon his supporters to trade their Iowa Nader
votes for Kerry votes in safe states, and I informed the hall about the
organization, VotePair.org. Nader did encourage those supporters who felt they could to participate in vote trading.
The other three individuals at the open mic really laid into Nader for
his perceived jeopardization of the election and for making comments
that disregarded the hard work of ISU progressives who were Democrats
or were otherwise voting for John Kerry.
I then went into the corridor outside the room as people exited and handed out informational sheets about VotePair.org. I distributed approximately 100 of them.
All in all, it was not a successful event for Nader. Perhaps 25
stayed to pick up autographed copies of his book. He had made a
lot of good points during his speech, but he was not as effective as he
was in 2000.
I left feeling bad for Ralph. Clearly, the hostility of the
Democrats since the 2000 election has hurt him, and the current
political winds were not in his favor, old soldier that he is. To
add insult to injury, the event organizers had taped up the canvas
banner behind him with duct tape, and it fell down as Nader
spoke. He looked old and tired.
I would say he probably netted maybe 75-125 votes off that event,
including those hard-core young lefties and anarchists who wouldn't
have voted for Kerry, regardless of whether or not Ralph was an
option. Maybe 75 were curious but not committed. The rest
will likely fall to Kerry, except for a small handful of Bush
supporters who were hovering.
Blog For Iowa 
“The remainder of the crowd applauded at Nader's comments. I would guess maybe 180 or so. I did not recognize anyone from Iowa City in the crowd, so the audience was likely all Grinnelians and Cyclones.”
Grinnelians and Cyclones?????? never happen, they musta been Cornhuskers.
mark
carlisle
proudtobeaburdenonsociety
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