Nader: Obama Should Make Clinton VP

This is a rush transcript from "Your World With Neil Cavuto," August 20, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: CAVUTO: Ralph Nader says he has figured out something, that Barack Obama is desperate, and he is so worried he is going to lose, he is going to go for Hillary Clinton as his running mate. No one says that. Ralph Nader does.

Ralph is here to explain.

Mr. Nader, good to have you. Thank you for coming.

RALPH NADER, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Pretty good, Neil.

• Video: Watch Neil's interview with Ralph Nader

That's a bit of a stretch. I was just saying that, if he wanted a plus for his campaign, Hillary Clinton would get him more votes than anyone else, because -- if only in a negative way, because a quarter of her supporters have not jumped on board of the Obama bandwagon. They're flirting with McCain. There are some actually supporting Nader/Gonzalez, our campaign. So, he's got to get those votes back.

CAVUTO: But how many -- how many of them would go to you or McCain, realistically, in enough numbers to worry him, that he would make this leap?

NADER: Yes. Well, it's a quarter of her supporters, according to the polls, of Hillary supporters. That's -- that is a lot of people, especially in a close election.

The other candidates they are tossing around, just they won't give him much at all in terms of votes. And I doubt whether they will even give him an extra state. But Hillary and her supporters can give him a lot of money. And he's need three or four times what McCain is going to receive from the public funding of $83 million.

And she has got a lot of very, very vigorous supporters, you know, knocking on doors, and grassroot get-out-the-vote. So, you remember, John F. Kennedy did not like Lyndon Johnson. They were really not friends. But he picked him. And Johnson delivered Texas and won the election against Richard Nixon. So, it's a...

CAVUTO: Right. But we should point out, then, I mean, everyone knows how close that election was, the popular vote.

NADER: Yes.

CAVUTO: But Kennedy won by a comfortable margin in the Electoral College regardless.

Having said that, though, Ralph, you raise an interesting point, that we know that these two have had a very tense relationship throughout the campaign. They have sort of had this kind of cool post-decision ease...

NADER: True.

CAVUTO: ... truce, whatever you want to call it, and that it would look to the world -- again, fairly or not -- that -- that Obama either caved or folder. How would you perceive that?

NADER: Well, he wants to win really badly. And he is rather expedient about these things. And he could say, well, he's been going all over the country saying, we are one people, we are one nation, and this is a unity move with Hillary, and that the disagreements they had are greatly overshadowed by the agreements on policy and agenda.

And then they all raise a hand at the convention in Denver. We're -- by the way, we're going to have a super-rally on August 27 at the University of Denver, Nader/Gonzalez.

And then say, you know, bygones be bygones. Neil, this isn't the first time politicians who did not care for themselves band together against a common opponent.

CAVUTO: Well, you're right about that.

But let me go back to you. Ralph, I had Bob Barr on the other day, the -- the...

NADER: Libertarian.

CAVUTO: ... Libertarian candidate. And he said, you know, Neil, it is very hard to get that 15 percent level in the polls where you can participate in the debates. You know that very well.

So, you guys are likely going to be locked out of these debates, unless something seismically changes.

NADER: That is true, because...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: So, do you think you are -- you're wasting your time?

NADER: No.

The debate commission, we should remember, is a private corporation created and controlled by the Republican and Democratic parties. They don't want anyone on the stage with them, even though poll after poll, for years, showed that the majority of the American people want more candidates on the stage.

They wanted me and Buchanan by 64 percent in a FOX poll in the year 2000, for example, the American people. So, what we're looking for now is Google, a Yahoo!, maybe even a Mayor Bloomberg-sponsored debate on the cities. You know, he's pretty upset that the Republicans and Democrats are not paying attention to the cities, their problems, their solutions, their poverty, their high school dropout rate, their infrastructure needs.

And he could...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: You might be right on all that, Ralph. But they say the ultimate role you will play is a spoiler. What do you say?

(CROSSTALK)

NADER: Not at all. I mean, we are in the tradition of third parties throughout history, where we advance social justice issues that the other parties, eventually, the major ones, pick up on, like the anti-slavery party, women's right to vote party, and others in the 19th century.

And, second, if you look at our Web site, Neil -- and I hope you will take a few minutes to -- you will see that the majority of the proposals that we have for our country are supported by a majority of the American people. And that Web site is VoteNader.org.

CAVUTO: All right.

NADER: So, you -- Martin Luther King once said, it is always the right time to do the right thing.

And I'm sure you would not shrink from proposing something you believe in, even if you knew only 5 percent of the people who are listening to you supported you, right?

CAVUTO: Well, you know, you would make debates fun. I will tell you that. Everybody in the pool, I say.

Ralph, thank you. Always a pleasure.

NADER: Thank you, Neil. Keep it up.

CAVUTO: Ralph Nader, all right.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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