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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
Nader raiders seek celebs
By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit
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Nader hasn't thrown his hat into the ring yet, but he has authorized an exploratory committee to start raising funds for the '04 race.
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VIDEO
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Ex-Vice President Al Gore's backing brings Howard Dean's try for Democratic presidential pick a shot in the arm.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ban on 'soft money' contributions and limits on political advertising by advocacy groups.
Former President Clinton criticizes the Bush administration's unilateral policy on Iraq while visiting Canada.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Forget Al Gore and Howard Dean. The endorsement we're watching today is from Susan Sarandon to Ralph Nader.
Nader returns to the '04 spotlight tonight, traveling to Princeton, New Jersey, for a $100-a-head fund-raiser organized by the state's Green Party and hosted by millionaire attorney Carl Mayer. Mayer, it should be noted, is a former Dem and longtime Naderite who defied his former party by challenging then-vulnerable Rep. Rush Holt in '00 as a Green. (Holt, a Democrat, won that race by 1,101 votes).
Nader has promised to announce within the next several weeks whether he'll run in '04. But in the meantime, he has authorized the Nader 2004 Presidential Exploratory Committee to start raising funds for that race.
Sure they lost the San Francisco mayoral runoff on Tuesday (it wasn't even close). But while the Greens may not have perfected the art of winning elections, they're pretty deft at helping Democrats lose them.
We caught up yesterday with one Naderite who'll be in Princeton tonight. Doug Friedline, political director of the unauthorized Draft Nader 2004 campaign (which we're told, with emphasis, is not affiliated with Nader's exploratory committee), plans to meet with Nader after the fund-raiser for a strategy session, at which he said a top priority will be to urge Nader to court the Hollywood celebrity crowd that buoyed him in '00 and helped him to sell out Madison Square Garden.
"He's going to need some sort of celebrity support to get this going," Friedline told the Grind, citing A-listers like Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Richard Gere. "Ralph needs to weigh their support and see if they're wiling to come on board, and that will help him decide where to go and when in the next 30 to 60 days."
Happy birthday Kerry!
Also today, we wanted to wish John Kerry a [expletive deleted]-ing great 60th birthday. Always up for a party, Kerry will celebrate his birthday by presenting his plan to hold corporate America accountable and to restore investor confidence and support retirement security for all Americans.
Hah, just kidding, although he will speak on that topic at 10 a.m. EST in Boston at Northeastern University. Tonight, following a Boston Globe editorial board meeting and a fund-raiser for Boston Mayor Tom Menino, Kerry and wife Teresa will be joined at 6 p.m. by some 400 close friends/donors at the Westin Copley Place, where they'll enjoy a performance by comedian Jimmy Tingle. (Unfamiliar with this Tingle fellow, we Googled and learned he's a longtime Boston fave and Andy Rooney-style humorist on 60 Minutes II.) The party, we're told, is closed to the press.
Clark picks up nods, movie
We're also watching Wesley Clark as he trots out a series of mid-level endorsements in New York. On the heels of his biggest fund-raiser to date ($1 million, in Manhattan last night), Clark will head to Harlem today to pick up some Democratic backers (hmmmmm, this sounds eerily familiar). Clark will showcase the backing of the dean of New York's congressional delegation, Charlie Rangel. (So, technically, Clark's getting Dean's backing, right?)
The Clark event will take place at 10:30 a.m. at the Adam Clayton Powell building in Harlem. Joining Clark and Rangel will be Reps. Anthony Wiener of Brooklyn and Steve Israel of Long Island. All three previously stated they're backing Clark, but we're a TV nation so it didn't really count until they did so on camera.
More on the Clark fund-raiser last night, from CNN's Phil Hirschkorn: The fund-raiser unveiled a new 17-minute biographical film, "American Son," produced by Linda Bloodworth Thomason, who produced a memorable biopic for Bill Clinton that introduced him to the Democratic National Convention in 1992.
The Clark film will be shown in future campaign events, including a night of nationwide house parties on December 18.
It highlights Clark's 34 years in the U.S. Army during which he met his wife of 36 years, Gert -- whom he met at a USO dance at Manhattan's Commodore Hotel, now the Hyatt, where the fund-raiser occurred -- and raising his son, Wesley Jr., in 31 different homes wherever his assignments led.
"It wasn't exactly the road to riches, but it was a road rich in good lessons for life and leading," Clark later told the crowd.
