On March 2, 10 states voted in their Democratic presidential primaries, leaving Massachusetts senator John Kerry the man who will take on the president for the White House. Without a doubt, this will be one of the closest elections our nation will see for a long time. And as the 2000 presidential election was, this election holds the potential to be one of the more hotly contested no matter what the outcome.Ralph Nader, long time political activist and Green Party member, announced in February his intention to run for the 2004 presidential seat, just as he did in 2000. For many Democrats, Nader isn’t just a consumer rights advocate and environmentalist, he’s the man that cost Al Gore his presidential bid.While this can be seen as an endorsement for Kerry, The Skyline View feels that the more important issue at hand is Nader in the race. The View feels that, while it is important to vote for the candidate one truly believes will get the best job done, if you are liberally inclined, do not vote for Nader.As the issues go, Nader sticks to many of the ideals in the Green party platform. For example, he believes in affordable health care for all, a cleaner environment, and higher education that everyone has access to. While these are things that our country desperately needs, Kerry also takes the exact same stance on these issues. While Kerry and Nader differ on issues of foreign policy, especially war, there are more similarities between the two than Nader would suggest.Ultimately, what these similarities boil down to is voting on the lesser of two evils. According to the Green party, there is essentially no difference between the Republican and Democratic parties, suggesting that large corporations and private interests buy them out. This is not all true. If Al Gore had been elected, the likelihood of tax cuts to the rich, the erosion of civil liberties through the passing of the Patriot Act, and the economic recession happening would have greatly decreased.Another point, that needs to be bluntly delivered, is that if liberals are looking to get someone in charge at the top, they need to stick with a candidate that has a chance of actually winning. While Nader has many great ideas, the majority of America is more in the middle of the political spectrum than he. This being the case, liberals need to play the political game and vote for Kerry. Unfortunately, this election is not about voting one’s conscience; it’s about winning and pure numbers.Every vote will count in this election. Democrats learned this painful lesson when Gore lost the state of Florida to President Bush by just over 500 votes. Surely they do not want this to happen again. Also, another more recent example of this can be found in Proposition 55, which passed by a slim margin-50.6 percent of voters voted “yes” while 49.4 percent of voters voted “no.” With a difference that small, surely no one can say that his or her one vote will not matter.While Nader claims he did not cost Gore the election and that Democrats are looking for a scapegoat, he should not deny the fact that his influence was a contributing factor. 500 votes is too narrow a margin to argue with, especially when something so important is at hand.