Nader: Flip Coin to Decide Presidency

H A R T F O R D, Conn., Nov. 25 -- Green Party leader Ralph Nader has asimple solution to the nation’s presidential stalemate: Flip acoin.

Reviving a proposal he made about 10 days ago in Denver, Nadersaid today a coin toss is the easiest way to appease themillions of Americans who will end up feeling that either Al Goreor George W. Bush stole the election.

“No one will ever really know who won because the margin oferror is larger than the margin of votes” separating Gore andBush, said Nader, the Green Party’s unsuccessful presidentialcandidate. “The only way we’re going to avoid having one sidesaying the election was stolen is to flip a coin.”

Not that a winner would please Nader. His own campaignrepeatedly and bitterly attempted to portray the Republican andDemocratic candidates as hopelessly wedded to corporate interests.

“Take your choice,” he told about 75 cheering Green Partysupporters at a fundraiser in a Hartford tavern. “Doyou want a do-nothing provocateur or a do-nothing anesthetizer?”

New Mexico Does It

Nader said state law in New Mexico, where Gore won by fewer than500 votes, provides for a coin toss to resolve elections that endin a dead heat. “So when I mention this, I’m not being flip,” hesaid to laughter.

A presidential coin toss could be internationally televised, andmoney raised from the sale of advertising could erase both sides’campaign debts, Nader said. He said he hasn’t suggested it to Goreor Bush, though, because “it’s clear they’re going to fight thisout in the courts.”

Despite the Greens’ failure to win the minimum 5 percent of thevote and qualify for federal campaign funds, Nader said his partybuilt momentum among disaffected voters and is well-positioned tobecome a vigorous and viable third-party alternative.

“We’re going to be a watchdog party, not a lapdog party,” saidMike DeRosa, a Green Party leader in Connecticut.