It was too infatuated with its 'success' in siphoning off votes and depriving Gore of victory to notice all the angry faces and turned backs standing around. Among leading progressive third-party candidates over the past century, both Debs and LaFolette achieved better electoral success than Nader. This is pitiful self-delusion. The Green Party may last another election cycle or even two, but probably has hit its electoral peak and will decline, returning to its previously fractionated and uncooperative selves. The various Green parties remain in the midst of unification talks, As a political force, the Greens may remain a party capable of capturing a majority in northern California's Arcata city council, but little more.
Friends are everything in politics.
Organized labor poured heart and soul into supporting the Democrats, and union officials now angrily refer to Greens, their mothers and sex acts inside three syllables. Nader campaigned most heavily in swing states where organized labor was making its most intensive efforts, a strategy that was read as anti-labor inasmuch as it certainly did nothing to propel the Greens towards their sacred five percent and federal funding. Neither have the Greens understood the meaning of another vital sign. Among Hispanics, Nader doubled his vote share to two percent. Rather, high political principles here boiled down to the message 'let's all lose together gloriously towards a better future'.