Will Ralph Nader have an impact in 2008?

Ralph Nader has recently announced that he will be running for President as a third party candidate for the 2008 elections, some have said that his running will make it easier for the Republican party candidate to win in key states and possibly turn the election because Nader will split the youth vote.  However, that is probably just wishful thinking by certain conservatives.  People remember what happened the last time they voted for Nader and ended up giving us George W. Bush.  The pull of Nader was that he was an outsider and represented something different, something aside from the cookie cutter Republican and Democratic candidates that many saw as one and the same.  Now people have a sense that maybe the Republican and Democratic candidates are different, and that which one they vote for really does make a difference as to which direction that nation takes.  With that scenario, the chances of electing the wrong candidate make it imperative that voters who want change put their vote behind a single candidate with the best chance of getting elected, in this case that is Barack Obama rather than Ralph Nader – who will not even have a major party backing him.  My prediction for the 2008 election is that Ralph Nader will not even make it to the ballot and will not have any affect.