33°

The following editorial first appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Really, there's nothing funny about Ralph Nader. His repeated sallies onto the campaign trail are not amusing, but merely laughable. Now apparently beginning his third run for the White House, Nader seems determined to keep hurting his natural allies until he has taught them a lesson of some sort. In the process he undermines the democratic process, even as he exploits it.

As a YouTube video (www.startribune.com/a3955, but be warned; it has vulgar moments) by Andy Cobb points out, voters with political tastes running toward Nader's positions had articulate, if unsuccessful, advocates this season in Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards. In our system, surviving candidates are strengthened - and informed - by voters who turn to them as a second or third choice. Nader, by contrast, weakens the surviving slate by fracturing its base of voters.

Think what influence Nader might have been able to exert from within a major political party, or the national presence he might have become via a national convention keynote - as, for example, a little-known Barack Obama did in 2004. And if that wasted potential depresses you, watch Cobb's video and cheer up. Unlike anything else having to do with Nader, it's funny.