Kerry met with Nader yesterday in what has been described as a "cordial" get-together.

Best of all possible worlds regarding the Nader campaign:

He becomes the third candidate on the stage in the televised debates. While yes he would then take time away from Kerry, he would most likely criticize Bush more than Kerry/Dems (probably an 80/20 or 70/30 ratio), with his attacks on Bush likely to be much more barbed and on-point than his lobs at Kerry. He then effectively allows for more anti-Bush sentiment to be aired during the total allotted debate time. In fact, I'd love to discover that he and Kerry discussed this very strategy yesterday. (It would be a wonderful way for Ralph to atone for his 2000 debacle!) After the TV debates were over, he would either then drop-out of the race, admitting he had no-shot at winning or ran short of campaign funds (whatever), or he could continue to run but unlike in 2000, he would 1) not be on ballots in all 50 states, and 2) he would purposefully not focus on those key toss-up states that Kerry needs to win.

We'll see what Ralphie-boy chooses to do.