Full piece here, but some key excerpts:
Perhaps, as conventional wisdom has it, Barack Obama will win comfortably; perhaps John McCain - in an increasingly longshot scenario - will claw his way to victory, and in such a way that Nader's candidacy will not figure.
But bring about a close election in a number of states - especially Ohio and Missouri, where polls show Nader winning about 2 and 4 per cent, respectively - and it is just possible to see how Nader, with his messianic vanity, and destructive urges that are best explained by God or psychiatry, can again determine the future of America.
It is even possible to foresee a way in which--if the national electoral result is unexpectedly tight on Tuesday-- the student population of Ohio State University (60,000) could, if Nader attracts enough support on campus and the final vote in Ohio is as close as Florida was in 2000, determine the outcome of the 2008 presidential election. (Memo to Ohio State students: share this message with your friends.)
In an Ohio News Organization poll in late September, among those making less than $20,000 a year, Nader was at 11 percent. Among independents, he was at 10%. And for those aged 18 to 29 in central Ohio, he was at 7 percent.
There are two other states, especially, where Nader could influence the election outcome if McCain were to surge towards the finish: Colorado and Missouri, more likely the latter. I was on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis ten days ago, and sentiment for Nader was hardly dormant. Nader sent out a mass mailing in the state last week, and according to the latest CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corp. poll, he is at 4 percent in Missouri, where McCain and Obama are seen to be running neck and neck: 48.3 to 47.7 per cent, in McCain's favor, according to the latest CNN average.
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