WASHINGTON - Consumer activist Ralph Nader, still undecided about running again as a third-party candidate, said yesterday that he is urging Democrats to vote for Rep. Dennis Kucinich in the presidential primaries next year.

Nader, stopping short of an endorsement of the long-shot Democrat, said he will decide before the end of the year whether to run again for president.

Excepting Cleveland's Kucinich, and at times former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, he faulted the Democratic field for not attacking President Bush with gusto on the Iraqi war and corporate scandals, such as the Enron bankruptcy. Unlike some of his rivals, Kucinich "says publicly what he believes privately," Nader said at a breakfast meeting with reporters. "At this point, I am urging Democrats to vote for him in the primary."

Nader, who attracted nearly 3 million votes as the liberal Green candidate in 2000, said "there would be less reason" for him to declare his candidacy if Kucinich captured the Democratic nomination. But he said he could not wait for voters to sort out the nine Democratic candidates next year before making a decision.

"The congressman and Ralph have been friends for over 30 years," said Kucinich spokesman Doug Gordon. "He appreciates the nice words. From the beginning, he has said his campaign is about bringing people who feel alienated or left out of the Democratic Party back into the party."

Nader still gets the cold shoulder from many Democrats who blame him for siphoning liberal votes from Al Gore in the close 2000 contest against Bush. But he said Kucinich and Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina and John Kerry of Massachusetts have sought his support in the developing 2004 race.

Asked how President Nader would have handled the Sept. 11 attacks, Nader said he would not have put the nation on a war footing but would have pursued the terrorist masterminds with commando units.

Nader said he thought Bush could be subject to impeachment for exaggerating the threat posed by Iraq, asserting a connection with the al-Qaida terrorist organization and claiming that Saddam Hussein ordered his army to use chemical or biological weapons against American troops.

© 2003 The Plain Dealer

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