;1972
:"Draft Nader" effort had no ballot line to offer, nor did Nader authorize his name to appear on any ballot until 1992.
;1990
:Nader considered launching a third party around issues of citizen empowerment and consumer rights. He suggested a serious third party could address needs such as campaign-finance reform, worker and
whistle-blower rights, government-sanctioned watchdog groups to oversee banks and insurance agencies, and class-action lawsuit reforms.
;1992
:Nader stood in as a
write-in for "none of the above" in the 1992
New Hampshire Democratic Primary and received little more than 3000 votes. He was also a
write-in candidate in the 1992 Massachusetts Democratic Primary, where he appeared at the top of the ballot.
;1996
:Nader was
drafted as a candidate for
President of the United States on the
Green Party ticket during the
1996 presidential election. He was not formally nominated by the
Green Party USA, which was, at the time, the largest national Green group; instead he was nominated independently by various state Green parties (in some areas, he appeared on the ballot as an independent).
;2000
:Nader ran actively in
2000 as candidate of the
Green Party, which had been formed in the wake of his 1996 campaign. That year, he received 2,883,105 votes for 2.74 percent of the popular vote,, missing the 5 percent needed to qualify the Green Party for federally distributed public funding in the next election, yet qualifying the Greens for ballot status in many new states. In October of 2000, at his largest rally of his campaign, in New York City's Madison Square Garden, Nader said that Al Gore and George W. Bush were "Tweedledee and Tweedledum -they look and act the same, so it doesn't matter which you get". Many Democrats blame Nader for throwing the 2000 election to the Republicans and George Bush; his votes in the key state of
Florida, among others, exceeded the difference in votes between
Gore and
Bush. Florida, however, was so close that votes for any of seven candidates would have switched the results.
;2004
:Nader announced on
December 24, 2003 that he would not seek the Green Party's nomination for president in 2004; however, he did not rule out running as an
independent candidate. On
February 22, 2004, Nader announced on NBC that he would indeed run for president as an independent, saying, "There's too much power and wealth in too few hands." His campaign ran on a platform consistent with the Green Party's positions on major issues, such as opposition to the war in Iraq. Due to concerns about a possible
spoiler effect in 2000, many Democrats urged Nader to abandon his 2004 candidacy. His continued insistence on running has lead many to conclude that he is either massively stupid, or a raging egotist, as he steals votes from the Democrats, who he logically should support as he has never had a chance in hell of winning anything. The Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Terry McAuliffe, argued that Nader had a "distinguished career, fighting for working families", and "would hate to see part of his legacy being that he got us eight years of George Bush." He received 463,653 votes for 0.38% of the popular vote. Nader replied to this in filmed interviews for the 2007 documentary
An Unreasonable Man, by pointing out that, "Voting for a candidate of one's choice is a Constitutional right, and the Democrats who are asking me not to run are, without question, seeking to deny the Constitutional rights of voters who are, by law, otherwise free to choose to vote for me." In this campaign Democrats accused Nader of having his bid funded by Republicans who wanted a repeat of his effect on the 2000 election. According to FEC records, the majority of donors who gave the maximum allowed donation to his campaign ($2,300)also gave the maximum to the Bush campaign.
;2008
:In February 2007, Nader left the door open for another possible White House bid in 2008 and criticized Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton as "a panderer and a flatterer." Asked on CNN's Late Edition news program if he would run in 2008, Nader replied, "It's really too early to say.... I'll consider it later in the year." Asked during a radio appearance to describe the former First Lady, Nader said, "Flatters, panders, coasting, front-runner, looking for a coronation ... She has no political fortitude." He says that his decision to run will be determined by whether the
Democratic Party selects
Hillary Clinton as its nominee. Some Greens have started a campaign to draft Nader as their party's 2008 presidential candidate.
:In June 2007, Nader again hinted at a run. He said, "You know the two parties are still converging -- they don't even debate the military budget anymore. I really think there needs to be more competition from outside the two parties."
