At 8 p.m. yesterday, as Vice President Al Gore '69 and Texas Governor George W. Bush prepared to debate, Ralph Nader stood at a bus stop, sheltered below the rumbling Red Line trains at the JFK-UMass T station.
He had a ticket to the debate, but the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) had already decided that the Green Party candidate would never get through security.
Less than two hours earlier, Nader had told a standing room-only crowd at Harvard Law School that although the
CPD was not allowing him to debate, he was set to take in the action as an audience member.
The Harvard audience cheered, and a couple people--to much laughter--yelled out the suggestion that Nader jump onstage. The candidate was taken aback, but quickly regained his composure.
"What do you think I'm going to do?" Nader quipped, eliciting more laughter and cheers.
Standing at the bus stop a couple of hours later, Nader told The Crimson that when he arrived at the UMass debate site, a CPD representative and three police officers approached him.
According to Nader, the CPD spokesperson, who was identified by the Associated Press as John Vezeris, didn't waste words.
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