Nader Chides Gore Campaign for Wooing His Supporters

Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader said Wednesday that Democrat Al Gore is so worried by his campaign that the vice president is personally calling some of Nader’s top supporters to urge them to jump ship.

Nader made the statement at a Washington news conference at which he officially announced he was hiring ad man Bill Hillsman, who produced the television spots for Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura’s successful campaign, to run his media campaign for the presidential race.

“For three months, the Gore campaign would say to reporters that they are not losing any sleep over my campaign,” Nader said. “But they are not slumbering on. They are already trying to reach some of our social justice celebrity supporters and convince them to spin off and support them. Some of these calls are being made directly by the vice president.”

In an interview Tuesday with Associated Press, Gore’s new campaign chairman, Bill Daley, conceded that Nader threatens to siphon support from Gore.

Daley said allies inside and outside the Gore campaign have made informal overtures to Nader supporters. “There’s been some discussions but kind of just, ‘What is this? Why are you over there?’ . . . Nothing official where we’ve approached the candidate.”