Nader tells voters to shun fears

Kirsten Searer

Thursday, Oct. 14, 2004 | 9:34 a.m.

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader encouraged about 200 people Wednesday to vote with their hearts, not with their fears.

Nader gave a 40-minute speech at the UNLV student union promising to pull out of Iraq in six months, reduce the nation's independence on oil, fight caps on medical liability lawsuits, fight nuclear energy and the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and crack down on corporate welfare.

President Bush has used terrorism to focus attention abroad while ignoring the problems at home, Nader said.

"Has it ever occurred to you there are great political advantages for the President of the United States to be constantly talking about terrorism and constantly talking about fear?" he said to the crowd.

Before the speech, Nader responded angrily when asked if he could be the spoiler in Nevada, which is a tight swing state.

If Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry loses the state, it will be because Bush took votes from him, not Nader, he said.

Nader is expected to appear on the ballot in Nevada and 34 other states, and he called efforts by the Nevada Democratic Party to have him tossed from the ballot "political bigotry."

UNLV sophomore Jamie Stephenson pledged $150 to the Nader campaign because she said she thinks Bush and Kerry are "too much alike."