Campaign Notebook: Nader weighing another presidential run

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In an interview with Newhouse News Service, Nader said he wants to "broaden and deepen" the issues debate and challenge "the unbelievably obstructive rules and deadlines" that keep third parties and independent candidates off the ballot in many states.

Nader said he won't decide whether to enter the race as an independent until mid-February. Nader has said he would not seek the Green Party nomination again.

Nader won 3 percent of the vote in 2000, prompting many Democrats to blame him for diverting enough support from Al Gore to tip the balance to George W. Bush.

Nader insisted he wants Bush to be defeated, calling him "a big corporation disguised as a human being." He argued that his candidacy could prod the Democratic nominee to be bolder in confronting Bush.

Bush meets with big donors; first lady raises more funds

WASHINGTON — For the third time in less than a month, President Bush sat down with the Republican Party's biggest donors yesterday, thanking them for their donations — and hoping they will open their checkbooks for him again.

Meanwhile, in Savannah, Ga., first lady Laura Bush headlined a luncheon that raised $230,000 for the re-election campaign.

The president attended a private "donor maintenance" lunch inside a historic Washington home. Bush's audience: the Republican National Committee's Team 100, donors who have given at least $25,000 during the most recent two-year election cycle; and the "Regents," those who have contributed $50,000.

Most of Bush's fund-raisers are open to the news media, but this one was not.

Canadians overwhelmingly hoping for Bush to lose
TORONTO — A majority of Canadians hope President Bush loses in November and do not really care who beats him, according to a magazine poll that hit newsstands yesterday.

Maclean's magazine, in an article entitled "Canadians to Bush: Hope you lose, eh," said a national survey of 1,367 people Jan. 20-25 found that only 15 percent of Canadians would definitely vote for Bush if given the opportunity.

Forty percent said they definitely would vote for someone else; 28 percent said they would consider someone other than Bush. Seventeen percent said they did not know.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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